Isleworth & Syon School for Boys

Ridgeway Road, Isleworth

Middlesex TW7 5LJ
T: 020 8568 5791 F: 020 8568 1939
school@isleworthsyon.org
www.isleworthsyon.org

ANNUALREVIEW
academic year 2015-2016

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Annual Review

INDEX
A MEssAgE froM thE hEADtEAchEr
thE Arts
gIftED & tAlENtED
currIculuM
AwArDs
chArIty & coMMuNIty
wIDEr lEArNINg wEEk
thE school
sIXth forM
sport
DEvElopMENts & thE futurE

Click on a heading above to go directly to that Section.

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A MessAge FroM
the heAdteAcher
Welcome to our Annual Review of 2015-16 and a chance to look back
at some of the highlights of the last school year.
The school has a long and proud tradition for the high quality education
of local boys, and a more recent and growing reputation for similarly
looking after the best interests of an increasing number of Sixth Form
girls.
With an ever-growing local population and new schools on the horizon,
we will continue to focus on our own priorities of ensuring a high quality
academic education, offering an exemplary range of additional
opportunities, and retaining some of our long and fine traditions. We
have always found this to be the best way to ensure the continued
success of both our students and the school.
An analysis of the summers examination results confirms that we
remain the most consistently top-performing non-selective school for
local boys. It is important to measure our results against boys in mixed
settings both locally and nationally, and it is always pleasing to us that
our boys do perform better when measured against boys in local mixed
schools and against boys nationally.
At A-Level, our student outcomes were excellent. The pass rate was
over 99%, with over 50% of all A-Level grades at A*-B. Across the
whole year, over 80% of grades were at C or above, cementing our
position as being in the top 10% of schools nationally for added-value.
At GCSE, new progress measures show that our boys continue to
comfortably out-perform their peers nationally on every measure. As
importantly, we remain extremely proud of the manner in which our
students develop over their time with us into mature, considerate and
ambitious young men.
At our Senior Awards Evening for 2015-16 we were delighted to
welcome former student and award-winning architect and designer,
John Edwards, back to school. A graduate of the University of
Cambridge and of the Royal College of Art, John is currently working
for Useful Studio and one of his current
projects is our new teaching block. It
was a delight to hear him reflect on his
time at school and on his career to date.
The school does provide an outstanding
education for our students and we look
forward to another excellent school year.

E Ferguson

I am grateful to Michael Kettle, former student and the schools

Communications Officer, for compiling this Annual Review. I would
also like to extend my thanks to Beat Creative for the design and
production of this publication.
Cover artwork by Robbie Whitmore (11C).

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The Arts

ELLIS BLOOM
EARNS PLACE AT
LAMDA
BY ELLIS BLOOM (13JST)

Ellis during the A2 drama piece.

The application process for drama

schools is somewhat different to the
usual procedure. I had to apply through
the websites of these schools and send
my CV, personal statement and
personal information separately. If the
schools liked my application, I was
emailed an interview date! I had an
interview rather than an audition
because I want to go into technical
theatre the backstage side.
I was first offered an interview to
LAMDA, the London Academy of
Dramatic Art, and the assembling of the
portfolios began. My portfolio included
photos of the school productions and my
outside experience with the National
Youth Theatre. On arrival at LAMDA,
there was first a tour of the building and
facilities, alongside other trembling,
portfolio-clutching applicants, then an
agonising wait while the interviews took
place one-by-one. I was accompanied by
some current students, who told me all
the gritty details; they were all really
friendly and encouraging. The interview
itself was really just a chat with some of
the staff members. My one piece of
advice is to go to an open day
beforehand and try your best to make a
good impression I did this and it turned

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out that the course director remembered

me, which made the interview a lot
easier and more relaxing. The next day,
I received a call from the course director,
to offer me an unconditional place.
RADA and Guildhall were later with their
application process, and they didnt open
until I had received most of my UCAS
offers (Rose Bruford, Bath Spa and
Guildford School of Acting). The RADA
interview day was identical to that of
LAMDAs in regards to its informal nature
it turned out that I was the first interviewee
they had this year! Four days later, I
received a call from their course director,
offering me an unconditional place.
The Guildhall interview was the last
interview I had. It was slightly different to
the other ones as it went on throughout
the day. It started with an introduction
talk, then a tour of the facilities and the
accommodation (one thing the other
drama schools did not have) and then a
group exercise to show your skills under
pressure, and, finally, the interview. This
interview was more formal - everyone
was asked to bring their portfolios and
programmes from drama productions
they had seen, and our GCSE English
results. Three weeks after the interview,

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I received a call offering me an

unconditional place!
My final decision came down to the two
schools that are, in my opinion, the most
prestigious: LAMDA and RADA. I had
been to see several productions from
each party, and I was thoroughly
impressed by the standard and
professionalism, which made the
decision even harder. I also spoke to
many industry professionals, and former
and current students. I eventually had to
go with my gut instinct, which was
LAMDA. Firstly, LAMDA's new facilities
would be highly beneficial for me, as not
only would I be working on shows all
around London, I'd also have a brand
new, state-of-the-art set location to do
them as well! Secondly, the variety,
bravery and innovation of LAMDAs
productions was more impressive; as a
budding Stage Manager, that is an
aspect I look for in shows. Lastly, I
appreciated the convenience of location
and ease of access to the schools.
I would like to thank all of the drama
teachers, especially Mrs Davies Jones,
Mr McDonnell and Ms Dubell for their
support and guidance, and I finally feel
that I have made the right decision.

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SCHOOL PRODUCTION:

The Arts

ITS AwONDERfUL LIfE!

The school production is a long-standing tradition at the
school, with students from Isleworth & Syon teaming up
with girls from the Green School for an epic two nights of
performances on our stage. This performance, of festive
classic Its a Wonderful Life!, took place on Thursday 3
and Friday 4 December. It is not an understatement to say
that every single student really rose to the occasion and
gave the performance of their lives!
There were a number of Sixth Form students for whom,
sadly, this was to be their final ever performance on the
Isleworth & Syon stage. George Bridgewater (13ANO),
Louis Kelly (13JST), Jack Takeda (13JST) and Mo
Abuelmeaza (13ALE) all gave show-stopping

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performances, leaving the audience close to tears at several

points! Special praise must also go to some of the younger
members of the ensemble, with students such as Tom Keenan
(10F) and Aadi Mudhar (9B) doing fantastic work! It is,
however, a little unfair to single out any one student in
particular, as there was not a weak link in sight.
A special mention should be given to Miss Phillips and the
music department. All ambient music in the production was
written and composed by students and Miss Phillips, and the
musical ensemble played an integral role in establishing a
sense of atmosphere. A huge well done to everyone involved
in all aspects of the production, from the actors to the
musicians, the technical team and the teaching staff suffice it
to say that it will be incredibly difficult to top this next year!
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TAHEEN MODAK EARNS PLACE

AT BRISTOL OLD VIC

We were delighted to receive notice during the Autumn Term

that former student Taheen Modak has been accepted to study
acting at the Bristol Old Vic, one of the most prestigious drama
schools in the country.
This followed a long and complex audition process, which
began in December 2014. It is quite fair to claim this selection
as a real coup for the school, as Taheen was spotted by
members of the performing arts department and encouraged
into a potential career path that he had not previously
considered.
Everyone at Isleworth & Syon wishes him all the best as he
pursues his dream of becoming a stage actor.

THE wOMAN IN BLACK

There were frights lurking around every corner on Thursday 5
November, as our Year 10 and 11 GCSE Drama cohort went
to see a terrifying production of Stephen Mallatrats play The
Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre in Londons West
End. As part of Section C of their GCSE, students have to
write about live performance, and there was certainly much to
comment on in this chilling production it is fair to say that the
students were very scared, although they did their best to hide
it! It truly was a spectacular production, giving the boys a
further insight into the many creative and technical processes
involved with live theatre.

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OUR COUNTRYS
GOOD STUDY DAYS
At the end of September, our Year 13 A-Level Drama &
Theatre Studies students were given the opportunity to take
part in a number of study days in support of their set text,
Timberlake Wertenbakers Our Countrys Good. These days
were organised by the National Theatre, and proved to be a
fantastic gateway into the text.
On Tuesday 29 September, the group took part in an all-day
conference on the play, discussing the texts many nuanced
themes via a masterclass with the actors. In the evening, they
took in the National Theatre production of the play. The group
were unanimous in their overwhelmingly positive verdict of the
production, and were particularly impressed with the way that
the play was staged. They also really enjoyed the musical
score, which had been composed by former Catatonia lead
singer Cerys Matthews!
There were two further talks over the course of the next week,
with one discussing the plays historical context, and the other
taking the form of a question-and-answer session with the
playwright and the director of the production. This was a
fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime experience for the five students,
who each came away from the week with a greatly-enhanced
understanding of the plays themes, which they then wrote
about in their summer examination.

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The event was very well-attended!

fESTIVE CHEER ABOUNDS AT

THIS YEARS CAROL CONCERT!
One of our favourite school traditions is the annual Carol
Concert, held just around the corner from school at St. Marys
Church. On a cold Monday night on 14 December, all of our
fabulous music ensembles came together for a Christmas
extravaganza! The concert began with a warm welcome from
the Reverend Rosie Hoad, and a number of Bible readings
were made throughout the evening, from Mr Ferguson, Jude
Collie (7E) and Aadi Mudhar (9B).
We began with the jazz band, who performed two numbers
The Blue Brothers Rockin Soul Revue and the Christmas
classic Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. They were
joined for this performance by three of our excellent peripatetic
music teachers from the Hounslow Music Service - Mr Ashton,
Mr Frost and Miss Stoffer. Afterwards, it was time for the
ukulele group, who delighted with two traditional carols
Angels We Heard on High and God Rest Ye Gentlemen. It
was great to see how much the group has progressed since
their first-ever performance at the 2014 Carol Concert.
The brass group is perhaps our most experienced ensemble of
them all, and they gave a wonderful performance of Hark the
Herald Angels Sing. Some of those boys stayed on for the
choir performance; it was fantastic to see such a mix of ages
singing with gusto for their performance of Jonathan Larsons
Seasons of Love, with representatives from Year 7 all the way
to Year 13! They were quickly followed by the string groups
performance of Mary Did You Know - it was great to have
members of teaching staff as part of the ensemble, with Miss
Lupton, Miss Low and Miss Phillips joining in with the fun!
One of the highlights of the whole concert was from the
concert band, as they played Poliakins The Canary. They
were joined by Sixth Forms Cara Doyle (12JST) who
performed an absolutely spellbinding and incredibly technical
clarinet solo, which gave the audience goosebumps! The great
performances just kept on coming, with both junior and senior
guitar ensembles giving great renditions of Christmas classics
from new arrangements by Mr Rolet. The audience particularly
enjoyed the steel pans ensemble, led by Rowan Thwaites
(11F), while the roof was nearly blown off by the Rock School

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Tom Keenan (10F) and

Adam Greaves (11B) of
the Rock School
ensemble.

Members of our string

ensemble - Max
Lundlack-Orr (11C) and
Adam Greaves (11B).

performances of James Bays Hold Back the River and

Wizzards cult classic I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
there was much toe-tapping to the latter!
Sammy Standing (9B) has become a stalwart of these sort of
concerts, and he gave another breathtaking piano recital of
Chopins Mazurka in C. The staff ensemble couldnt resist
getting in on the action, singing 12 Days of Christmas with
props! It was then time for the final performance, as the concert
band performed Star of Bethlehem from the film Home Alone,
and ended with a lovely performance of Cantique de Noel.
The retiring collection was once again donated to Street Child
Africa, an important charity working with homeless children in
Africa our sincere thanks to everyone who made a donation.
A night like this wouldnt be possible without the work of Miss
Phillips and Mr Rolet in the music department, so well done to
them for such excellent organisation of rehearsals and the
event itself. Finally, our thanks to every single one of the
musicians who took part in the evening, many in multiple
ensembles you continue to prove why Isleworth & Syon is the
best destination for budding musicians.

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VERBATIM THEATRE DAY

AT THE NATIONAL
Our five Year 13 A-Level Drama & Theatre Studies students
visited the National Theatre on Tuesday 24 November for a
day of workshops focused on the verbatim theatre genre. This
type of play is a form of documentary theatre which is based
on the spoken words of real people, using information from
sources like recorded interviews and transcripts. The day was
of particular interest to the group, as they were in the process
of developing their own verbatim-style devised piece focused
on the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.

LONDON SCHOOLS
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

During the day, the students had access to archived scripts

and programmes, and watched a filmed production of London
Road performed in that specific style. The day was extremely
helpful as it gave them a sense of what the genre is about, as
well as providing them with ideas for techniques that they
could utilise in their own piece.

The first school trip of this year took place on Tuesday 22

September, as Miss Phillips took a small group of students
from Years 10-13 to the Barbican Theatre to see the London
Schools Symphony Orchestra. It was an absolutely fantastic
evening, made even more special by the fact that one of our
Sixth Form students, Cara Doyle, played principle clarinet in
the orchestra!

RISE UP

This was an outstanding show that was open to the members

of the public. It was an absolutely huge orchestra, containing a
wide range of instruments, including the harp, clarinet, cello,
violin, viola, and oboe. The students were absolutely blown
away by the scale of the concert, and had a wonderful time!
The show will also have an educational benefit; Miss Phillips
commented afterwards, This show will allow the students to
understand how the different timbres of orchestra work in a live
acoustic space this in turn will be immensely helpful for their
upcoming examinations.
The school was given free tickets by the Centre for Young
Musicians (part of the Guildhall School for Music and Drama)
our thanks go to them. The cohort was a credit to the school,
with a member of the public commenting on the exemplary
nature of their behaviour. Well done to them!

On Tuesday 22 September, Mr McDonnell took his Year 10

GCSE Drama group to the Green School to watch a
performance of the play Rise Up. This touring production is
performed by the company Theatre Centre, and is an hourlong piece about the civil rights movement in America. It
dramatises the true story of the Freedom Riders, a group of
black and white students who rode buses across the southern
states of America and broke the rules of segregation.
As such, the play deals with important themes about racial
tensions and divides, and it certainly received a strong
response from our cohort, many of whom were experiencing
their first piece of live drama. After the play had finished, there
was a question-and-answer session with the actors that further
expanded on the fascinating ideas raised throughout the
piece. The boys came away thrilled with this poignant and
evocative experience.

LES MISRABLES
A large part of the A-Level
Music course is the study and
discussion of live performance.
To that end, Miss Phillips took
her cohort to Her Majestys
Theatre in Londons West End
on Thursday 7 January, for a
thrilling performance of the
theatrical classic Les
Misrables. The four students
were treated to a sensory feast,
with the live orchestra a
fundamental part of the production. They came away with a
much greater understanding of how live music can be used to
contribute to performance.

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OUTSTANDING A-LEVEL DRAMA RESULTS!

Following their time at the
National Theatre researching
the verbatim genre, our Year 13
A-Level Drama & Theatre
students got to work devising
their piece, based on the story of
Lance Armstrong. This threemonth process culminated in
their final-ever Isleworth & Syon
practical performance, which
took place on Wednesday 9
March to a packed audience in
Room 100. The piece, titled
Lines Crossed, used witness
testimony, interviews, and other
text-based sources.
It was an outstanding production
with some truly inventive staging.
All of their hard work paid
dividends when it came to the
final marks both Ellis Bloom
(13JST) and George Bridgewater
(13ANO) achieved an
astonishing full marks, while
Louis Kelly, Em Shanahan and
Jack Takeda (all 13JST) were
only a few marks away. Well
done to the entire group this
achievement is a testament to
their work ethic during their
seven years at the school.

RAYMOND ANUM ACCEPTS PLACE AT RADA

We were delighted to hear that former student Raymond
Anum has been accepted into the Royal Academy of the
Dramatic Art (RADA), widely-recognised as one of the
best drama schools in the world. Famous alumni from this
prestigious school include Sir John Hurt, Sir Roger Moore,
Dame Diana Rigg and Imelda Staunton.
Following long and arduous application processes,
Raymond was faced with a tough decision, as he received
firm offers from RADA and Bristol Old Vic, the latter of
which is currently attended by his former classmate
Taheen Modak. He also had a final recall to the Guildhall
School of Music and Drama. It is a phenomenal
achievement to get this far at all three schools, each of
which are extremely sought-after and competitive.
Raymond eventually plumped for RADA, and will study a
BA (Hons) in Acting. This means that come September,
three Isleworth & Syon alumni will be studying at top drama
schools across the country a testament to the work from
Mr McDonnell and the rest of the Performing Arts team.
During his time with us, Raymond demonstrated
outstanding skill and commitment, consistently driving
himself to be better, and he is now reaping the rewards of
his hard work. We cant wait to see where he ends up!
Raymond Anum during his Year 13 BTEC Performing Arts performance, for which he received top grades!

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The Arts

SUMMER ARTS & TECHNOLOGY EVENING

Tuesday 28 June was a truly special
evening as we hosted our annual
Summer Arts & Technology Evening.
This event brings together the art,
design & technology (DT), drama and
music departments for a magical event
which truly drives home the breadth of
talent on offer at Isleworth & Syon. The
evening used the promenade format,
with half the audience starting in the
canteen (drama and then art and DT)
and half starting in the hall (music
rotation), before swapping over.
The stage was set for drama in the
canteen, and our Key Stage 3 drama
club did not disappoint as they put on a
performance of Erich Kstners Emil
and the Detectives. It received
rapturous applause from the audience,
who enjoyed the dark humour present in
the piece. Particular standout
performances came from Jude Collie
and Cade Nation, two Year 7 students
who clearly have bright futures on the
Isleworth & Syon stage.
Parents/carers and guests had a
wonderful time exploring the art and
design & technology departments. The
three art rooms had a selection of
student work from GCSE and A-Level,
while the corridor displayed some
exemplar Key Stage 3 artwork. Many of
these pieces wouldnt look out of place
in a gallery! They were accompanied
by our wonderful steel pans group.
Meanwhile, over in DT, the
displays consisted of an
exhibition of GCSE Electronics
and GCSE Resistant
Materials products, as well
as some Key Stage 3
items. The centrepiece
was a fabulous
motorised scooter!
(see below).

'Emil and the Detectives'.

It is almost predictable at this point that

the music segment of the evening
was outstanding, but it need to be
reiterated that the standard here
was just extraordinary. Every
year, the department seems to
raise its game, and Miss Phillips
and Mr Rolet did a great job. Highlights
of the music rotation (co-compered by
Sixth Form students George
Bridgewater and Jack Takeda) included
the choirs lovely performance of Trains
hit Hey, Soul Sister, with students from
across the school coming together. The
strings group played some incidental
music from hit television series 'Game of
Thrones without any dragons while
the concert band raised the spirits with a
rendition of Jai Ho by A.R. Rahman.
Alan Wali (9C) and Sammy
Standing (9B) combined on
the violin and piano to
perform the classic Cossack
Dance, while jazz band got
the toes tapping with their
excellent performance of
Mas, que Nada! by Jorge
Ben. Our junior guitar
group have prospered this

year under the tutelage of Mr Rolet, and

they gave a great performance of
Gotyes Somebody That I Used to
Know. Sticking with the junior students,
the junior brass ensemble enraptured
the crowd with their lively medley! The
rotation ended with Rock Schools
amazing performance of Adventures of
a Lifetime by Coldplay, featuring the
debut of James Cherian (11F) on vocals.
It was then time for both groups to join
together for the final half-hour music
concert, which began with jazz bands
up-tempo rendition of Locked Out of
Heaven by Bruno Mars. The strings
group put an orchestral spin on David
Guettas dance anthem Titanium,
before the ukuleles played soul classic
Aint Nobody. The choir returned for a
triumphant Coldplay medley, with lots of
vocal accompaniment from the

Outstanding work from DT

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Jake Ince-Moore (7B) gives his debut performance as part of the Strings group.

audience! Following in the footsteps of

the juniors from earlier were our senior
guitar ensemble and their rendition of
The Eagles Hotel California.
It was then time for something
completely different, as James Cherian
performed a solo that he himself had
arranged. It was an acoustic medley of
Work by Rihanna and Drakes One
Dance, and the performance expertly
married two songs that are exceedingly
different! There was a lot to live up to for
the Rock School, one of the staples of
these concerts but they did not
disappoint with their medley of House of

the Rising Sun, Johnny B. Goode and

Heroes. Several of this ensemble are
heading off to pastures new in
September, but they can be proud of
their final performance on the Isleworth
& Syon stage.
Time for only two more performances,
and it is safe to say that the best was
saved for last. The concert band gave
an outstanding rendition of John
Williams Star Wars: The Force
Awakens score, a complex piece that
sounded absolutely fantastic! The final
performance of the evening came from
the staff band, who had the crowd on

The choir in full voice.

their feet with Dont Stop Me Now by

Queen. They received a standing
ovation from the audience!
This event is a testament to the sheer
level of creative talent on display at
Isleworth & Syon talent that is nurtured
not just in the classroom but through
extra-curricular time as well. A huge well
done to all of the students involved, but
also to the staff Miss Phillips, Mr Rolet,
Mr McDonnell, Mrs Davies Jones and
Miss Dubell in music and drama; Mr
Carpenter and Miss Pacwa in art; and
Mr Scanlon, Mr Elliston, Miss Jheeta
and Mr Browell in DT.

and art!

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The Arts

wILL MILLETT
EARNS PLACE AT
ROYAL COLLEGE
Of MUSIC
The schools performing arts pedigree continues
to grow, as another student has earned a place at
a prominent performing arts school. We were
delighted in May to learn that Will Millett (9D) has
been accepted into the Royal College of Musics
junior department, starting every Saturday in
September. This is an extremely prestigious
opportunity, working at one of the top music
colleges not just in the UK but in the world. During
his time there, he will be given the opportunity to
study composition and musical theory, as well as
playing in the renowned Royal College of Music
ensemble and having one-to-one tuition from
specialist teachers. Well done, Will!

CONCERT BAND PERfORM fOR

ST PAULS PRIMARY SCHOOL
The week before Summer Arts &
Technology Evening, our concert band
had their first-ever live performance in
front of an audience. The band was
newly-formed by Miss Phillips in
September, and is made up of our most
talented musicians. This particular
performance was held at St Pauls
Church, with the audience made up of

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students from St Pauls CofE Primary

School. The entire school was present,
but if this got the bands nerves jangling,
it certainly didnt show!
They performed their repertoire with
aplomb, with highlights including
excerpts from the Pirates of the
Caribbean soundtrack and Dont Stop

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The Concert Band in full flow!

the Beat from Hairspray. In between

each performance, Miss Phillips
introduced the different elements of the
ensemble to the children, asking them to
guess the instrument which the
children loved! The group concluded
their performance with a medley from
the most recent Star Wars film, The
Force Awakens. It was an excellent
performance that put them in good stead
for Summer Arts.

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GEORGE
BRIDGEwATER
HEADS TO
INSTITUTE Of
THE ARTS
BARCELONA
Following his outstanding performance
in his A-Level Drama & Theatre
qualification, George Bridgewater
(12JST) will be continuing his education
a little further afield than most Spain, to
be exact. We were delighted to learn
that George has earned a place at the
Institute of the Arts Barcelona (IAB) in
September.
George (centre) during his A2 drama performance.

George first learned of IAB through a

summer course that he completed there
after his GCSEs. He loved it so much
that following the conclusion of his ALevels, he managed to get an audition.
He had to perform two Shakespeare

monologues; he did extracts from The

Tempest and Dunsinane, the latter of
which was his AS-Level Drama piece
(see the 2014-15 Annual Review). He
obviously made a great impression, as
he was swiftly offered a place! We hope

he spends his summer brushing up on

his Spanish.
We wish George the best of luck, and
look forward to updates from the beach
over the next year!

BLUE/ORANGE
For the performing arts BTEC, it is expected
that students attend the theatre in order to
broaden their knowledge and understanding
of live drama. To that end, on Tuesday 21
June Mr McDonnell and Miss Dubell took the
cohort to the Young Vic for a performance of
Joe Penhalls gripping play Blue/Orange.
It was a stunning production, with only three
actors in the company. Students were
particularly impressed with the in the round
staging technique as well as the intensity of
the performances from the lead actors. The
play deals with some complex themes
regarding racial identity and mental illness,
and the group really engaged with these
ideas and were more than willing to discuss
them at length afterwards! Everyone agreed
that the play had really helped them to
understand about live performance.

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Gifted & Talented

JACK PETCHEY SPEAK

OUT! CHALLENGE
This year, the school has once again take part in the Jack
Petchey Speak Out! Challenge. This gives our Year 10 Gifted
& Talented students the opportunity to refine and hone their
public speaking skills. It began in the Autumn Term with a daylong workshop in the Sixth Form Study Room, where the
students were taught some exemplar public speaking
techniques and given the opportunity to practice and then
receive critique. Six students from this workshop were chosen
to take part in the school final Farhad Ahmed (10B), Deven
Clarke (10E), Mateeullah Kakar (10A), Qaiser Khan (10F), Tim
Volle (10F) and Kareem Zeido (10B).
Mateeullah does us proud in the regional final!

Our school competitors.

The school final took place in room 140 to an audience of

students in Year 7 and 8. The three judges Miss Hannon, Mr
Milligan and Miss Cox had a very tough decision to make as
the students each gave speeches of 2-3 minutes in length on a
variety of engaging topics. It was great to see students
engaging with some really important issues, and the points
they made were very eloquent and measured. The eventual
winner was Mateeullah Kakar for his speech on Dreams, and
he progressed to the regional stage of the competition.
This stage took place at Chiswick School on Monday 25
January, bringing together fifteen students from schools
across the borough. The event was compered by our very own
Max Lundlack-Orr (11C), who took part in this very stage last
year! Mateeullah spoke dynamically about the environment, an
extremely pertinent topic. Although he didnt quite make it
through to the national stage, he certainly did the school proud
with the quality of his speaking. Well done, Mateeullah!

DEBATE MATE

Sawbridge and Miss Shukla, this year

has seen some great debating results.

admirably considering this

was their first live debate.

We were delighted to take advantage of

the Debate Mate scheme again for our
Gifted & Talented students this year.
The organisation runs after-school
debating clubs across the country,
sending in specially-trained university
students to teach and tutor the students
in the art of debating! We have found
that students taking part in the
programme see substantial increases in
their speaking and listening skills as well
as their engagement with school. Coordinated in school by Miss Cox, Miss

After the initial meeting, over 70

students expressed an interest in taking
part a phenomenal response! Over the
course of the year, there was a very
large number of regular attendees in
Years 7-10. With a lot of the core
debaters from previous years no longer
able to take part, there was a lot of new
blood this year, but the boys rose to the
challenge with enthusiasm.

In the second round, we

went to Viliers on Wednesday
2 March, and excelled themselves
to the extent that we placed in the top 40
schools in the country! Not only that, but
we are now one of the top 30 schools in
the London area. This is an absolutely
outstanding achievement, and everyone
here was thoroughly proud of the boys
for putting in the effort to prepare after
school for weeks ahead of the debates.
You could not tell at all that many of the
students involved had minimal debating
experience before this year!

We once again competed in the Urban

Debate League, with the school hosting
the first round on
Wednesday 29
January. The boys
competed against
Viliers School,
Ealing, winning
six of eight
debates. They
discussed issues
such as education
and advertising,
and performed

On Wednesday 20 April, the boys visited

the University of Westminster for the
Debate Mate Cup. They performed very
well, with each of the three teams winning
at least one of their debates. We were
thrilled to also be presented with the
award for top attendance in London
schools. We hope that the boys push on
next year and continue to develop their
debating prowess.

Students after their commendable performance in the Debate Mate Cup, alongside Miss Cox.

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Gifted & Talented

Above: One of the Year 7 and 8 groups receives their feedback tutorial with the
PhD student, and right: Year 9 graduates at SOAS.

BRILLIANT CLUB
We were pleased to offer some of our
Gifted & Talented students the exciting
opportunity to take part in the Brilliant
Club scheme once again this year. The
aim of the programme is to widen
access to top university for highachieving pupils in Years 7-10, and to
give them a small taste of university
education. This is achieved by the
Brilliant Club sending a PhD student into
school to deliver six weeks of universitystyle tutorials. The tutor offers one-toone assistance to students as they write
an extended essay on their subject,
which are graded at university levels
(First Class, Upper Second Class, and
so on) at a Key Stage above where
students are working.
These essays are not easy, and are
designed to remove students from their
comfort zone, with the word count at
1500 words (Years 7 and 8) and 2000
words (Years 9 & 10). It was great to see

students thriving under this challenge,

with a staggering seventeen students
earning First Class Honours for their
work the top grade. Those students are
listed right. For comparison, three
students earned Firsts in the previous
year.
As part of the scheme, students were
able to visit a number of prestigious
universities across the country, including
Kings College London and SOAS. The
boys took part in campus tours and
study skills sessions that gave them a
small taste of what university life may be
like. Our data shows that following these
visits, students are much keener to go to
university, and are also much more
aware of the processes involved. Well
done to every single student who took
part in the Brilliant Club this year.

YEAR 7 AND 8
WALEED ALDILLAMI
NATHANIEL BUENDIA
ELLIOTT CULLING
JUDE MADDOCK-YOUNGS
SAMUEL NIXON
ARMAAN SACHDEVA
RAUL SHAH
MOHAMMED SHEIKHNOOR
JACK SHIELS
THOMAS SKINNER
JOSIAH WILSON KEPPLE
LARS-LEANDER VOLLE

(8B)
(7E)
(7D)
(8A)
(8D)
(7C)
(7C)
(8E)
(8D)
(8F)
(8A)
(8C)

YEAR 9 AND 10
JOHN ALVARAN
ALEC BRUNDLE
ALI NASIRI
RUHUL-AMIN AHMED
DANIEL VAKILI

(9E)
(9A)
(9F)
(9C)
(9F)

Ross M

cQu

een
A Love
Poem
to a
on Sha
kespea Monster (bas
re's So
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nnet 13 d
Her ey
0)
es as b
right an
Hair so
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The mo ick it looks lik ig as a star;
n
e it's ch
And he ster's teeth c
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are sha
Her ey
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rp and
a
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ll
car
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A body
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sse
d
as a ro
And
undabo d;
And a v toes all cold
ut
li
oice th
at soun ke frost;
ds like
a shou
t.

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CHELSEAS CHOICE
On Thursday 15 October, travelling drama company Alter-Ego Productions came into
school to deliver a powerful play to Year 9 students. The performance titled Chelseas
Choice dealt with hard-hitting issues such as cyber-bullying, online safety and sexual
exploitation, and was immensely powerful.
It told the story of a 15-year-old girl whose life fell apart due to a few bad choices and
trusting the wrong people. It was revealed at the end that it was a true story, and the
Year 9 students were suitably affected by this poignant piece. They were given the
opportunity to take part in a question-and-answer session afterwards, and some
excellent questions were asked about the topics raised in the play.
Well done to the students for the maturity that they demonstrated during this piece.
Students looked into these themes in more depth during their PSHCE sessions this year.
You can read more about the production at
www.alteregocreativesolutions.co.uk/chelseas-choice/

PARMEET SINGH
Parmeet Singh is a former student who left Isleworth & Syon
two years ago; he is now an entrepreneur who has set up an ecommerce branch of his fathers business a business which
turned over 6.5 million last year. On Monday 23 November,
he came back to school to talk to our Year 10 Business &
Enterprise students.
Here is Azaan Khans (10D) report.

Parmeet Singh came back to our school to discuss what it is

like to run your own business in the real world. Meeting Mr
Singh was a real inspiration; he told us how he now runs his
fathers business and told us how hard it is to run your
business.
Mr Singh told us that he and his business was mostly busy
during the Christmas holidays, selling a variety of Christmas
consumer items such as Christmas lights and decorations. His
business buys products and consumer items from other
franchises and businesses, and then sells them on to make
profit out of the stock.
It was interesting to hear that being his own boss is hard
because there is so much paperwork that he has to do for his
business, and that he barely gets any time to himself. He
works for hours on end every day for the majority of the week,
to make sure that his business is in good shape.
A huge thank you to Parmeet for giving up the time to come
and talk to the students.

Students investigate Isleworth!

GEOGRAPHY STUDENTS
EXPLORE LOCAL
SURROUNDINGS
At the start of December, our Year 8 geography students were
given the opportunity to venture out of the classroom and
complete some local fieldwork pleasingly, all of the students
jumped at the opportunity for some hands-on learning. The
boys travelled down the hill to explore the shops along the
London Road, answering a series of questions about the local
businesses that reside down there.
Students were tasked with going into the shops and asking
questions to the owner, which they did respectfully and
politely. The boys accumulated some great data, which they
then took back to school and discussed. Well done to the boys
for their conduct.

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POETRY BY HEART
At the end of the Autumn Term, the English department once
again organised a Poetry by Heart competition in school. This
is a nationwide initiative aimed at students in Key Stage 4, with
students having to recite a poem that they have learned, in
front of an assembled audience of staff and their peers. There
was a lot of fantastic competitors this year, but one clear
winner Zack Taylor (11C), who gave an outstanding recitation
of Sing a Song for a Lad that is Gone by Robert Louis
Stevenson. Aadi Mudhar (9B) finished second, while Ayub
Suggulle (10C) finished in third place. This result meant that
Zack progressed to the West London final, which took place in
February at the Paul Robeson Theatre. Zack recited
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley and The Second
Coming by WB
Yeats. He narrowly
missed out on
qualifying for the
national finals, but
the judges were
immensely
impressed with
Zacks performance.
Following some
impressive poetry
readings in class, the department also hosted a Key Stage 3
competition for students in Years 7 and 8. Getting up and
speaking in front of a crowd is no mean feat, and yet the
students absolutely rose to the challenge! The winners were
Albert Campling (7F) and Kousthub Kaivar (8D). It was a
pleasure to watch all of the students give so much passion and
commitment into their readings. Afterwards, Miss Hannon said,
Poetry by Heart is a wonderful initiative which gets young
people thinking about the power of poetry and of language; we
would love to see more students getting involved next year!
Zack Taylor performed fantastically well at the
regional final.

Our Year 7 winner - Albert Campling.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL ROMEO + JULIET

This year, the English department has organised a number of
trips to the theatre, as a means of expanding students
learning outside of the classroom and increase their
understanding of the texts that they are studying. Many of
these students have never been to see live theatre, so these
visits have an added cultural bonus!
On Wednesday 16 December, Miss Hannon and Miss Breach
took sixty Year 10 students to see a production of Charles
Dickens classic A Christmas Carol at the Rose Theatre,
Kingston. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with
students commenting afterwards that they already felt that
they knew the text more intimately having seen it performed!

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On Friday 12 February, Miss Cox took over fifty Year 10

students for a performance of Romeo + Juliet at the Orange
Tree Theatre, Richmond. The students are studying the text as
part of their GCSE course, and so this was a fantastic way to
increase their understanding of Shakespeares themes. The
boys were very responsive to the way that the play was staged
and performed, and expressed much enthusiasm during the
trip home!

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HOUNSLOw SPEED READ

On Wednesday 3 February, Ms Squires took a group of keen

readers to Hounslows Paul Robeson Theatre for the annual
Speed Read competition, hosted by the Hounslow Library
Service. The event brought together several school from the
London Borough of Hounslow, and was compered by poet and
storyteller Tony Dallas.
For the Speed Read, students were given just one minute to
talk about their favourite book in a series of one-to-one chats
with other students, pitching their book in an attempt to
persuade the other person to read it. During the event, all
present were very impressed with our boys pitches; it was
clear that they understood their texts inside and out, and had a
great passion for the book they were discussing. At the end of
the two-hour session, everyone was asked which book they
were most interested to read. A huge well done to John
Alvaran (9E), who was given the award for Best Presentation
for his pitch of Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird.

John Alvaran presents his book.

Afterwards, John said, Speed Read 2016 is a great experience

where I felt very welcomed into a room filled with young minds
that love to read as much as I do. This experience just goes to
show that reading a book helps you interact with other people of
the community as you share common interests and passions.
Well done to everyone involved!

BUSINESS STUDENTS
VISIT THE SKY ACADEMY
On Monday 22 February, Miss Davies took twenty Year 12 BTEC
Business students to the Sky Academy in Osterley for a day jam-packed
with business-themed activities. The aim was to inspire the students and
get them thinking about the different ways that Sky functions as a
business.
The boys began with a tour of all of the Sky studios contained in the
Osterley campus, including Sky Sports News and Sky News. The
students absolutely loved seeing these sets first-hand, especially the
gallery where the director sits. They were given an in-depth look into
how these rolling news programmes are organised and created, and its
fair to say that the boys were very impressed!
There were a number of students from other schools present during the
day, and all groups had the task of creating a brand new TV show,
mapping out different ideas and concepts and then presenting them in
groups. The boys were also asked to design a new Sky product and
service and consider how they would finance and market it. Some of the
concepts were absolutely outstanding!
The cohort was also given the opportunity to try out some of Skys more
cutting-edge technology. They spent some time at a careers wall, where
students were given iPads and had to scan items on the wall to get
valuable careers information. The highlight of the day for many students,
though, was the Virtual Reality headset, which everybody loved even if
there were a few stumbles along the way as they got used to the new
surroundings! All in all, it was a great day, and Miss Davies was effusive
in her praise of the students for their conduct throughout.

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LITERACY &
NUMERACY
EVENING
The Spring Term Isleworth Association event was
the Literacy & Numeracy Evening, held in the school
hall for its second year on Tuesday 8 March. Hosted
by Mrs Clayton (Assistant Headteacher Literacy)
and Mr Stoddart (Assistant Headteacher
Numeracy), the evening was designed for Year 7
students and parents/carers.
The event was well-attended and was a great
success, giving lots of helpful advice and guidance
for how students can develop their literacy and
numeracy skills, and how those two disciplines are
embedded into the curriculum throughout the school.
The full pack of resources was posted to the school
website after the event, for those who were not able
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MEET THE AUTHOR:

ANTHONY MCGOwAN
CAROLINE LAwRENCE
Our Meet the Author events are a fantastic opportunity for
students from across the school to find out more about the
process of writing. For World Book Day, a small group of Year
7 boys visited the Paul Robeson Theatre for an illuminating
talk with author Caroline Lawrence.
Caroline specialises in historical fiction for children, and talked
in depth about her love of history. She also talked heavily
about the process of writing a novel, and how she breaks
novels down into chapter outlines to get a clear sense of
story. After the talk, Caroline spent time with the boys
answering questions on a one-to-one basis, as well as signing
their books.
Ben Rawsthorne (7A) said afterwards, I thought that the Meet
the Author trip was very inspirational. I learned many helpful
tips on how to write successful stories, which I feel will be very
beneficial. Read some more feedback from students below.

fEEDBACK

What was your overall response to the talk?

I think that this event was entertaining and very beneficial
for my creative writing skills in English. The talk really helped
me think about what I should be writing in the stories that I
might write when I become older.
Jason Zingapan (7C)
I think [the event] has given an even bigger interest in books
and made me want to become an author.
Imran Majid (7A)
I think that the event was great.

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Tinashe Chituku (7C)

Our next Meet the Author event took place on Tuesday 15

March 2016, as we gave a warm welcome to author Anthony
McGowan. He spoke to the whole of Year 8 during the hourlong session. Anthony is known for the humour in his stories,
which often deal with unfunny subject matters (such as the
concept of hell, for instance). This contrast, Anthony
explained, is what appeals to him when writing finding that
balance between subject matter and tone.
During his talk, Anthony did several readings from his books,
including Henry Tumour (a book told from the point of view of
a tumour) and The Knife that Killed Me. Anthony discussed
how he often uses past memories and puts them into his
books. Following his readings, Anthony took questions from
the audience; one particular highlight was when he explained
(jokingly) that his inspiration for writing was that he was
rubbish at everything else!
There were about twelve questions asked in total, and all of
them were very insightful indeed. After his talk, Anthony
stayed to answer some more questions and sign some books.
Response to the event was overwhelmingly positive, and
Anthony was a witty and engaging guest. We thank him for
giving his time to come and speak with the students.

In what ways do you feel that the Meet the

Author talks are beneficial to you?
I feel that they are beneficial to me because they inspire me
Tomasz Papior (7B)
to read a new genre of books.
They give me an idea of how the author thinks and feels
towards their creativity and imagination.
Mansoor Ismail (7C)
It gives you a wide variety of book ideas to read.
Jude Collie (7E)

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STORYTELLING
AT wORPLE
At Isleworth & Syon, we really believe that reading regularly
can greatly enrich a students development. This year, we
have also launched a Storytelling scheme for a selection of our
junior students in Years 7-9, equipping them with the
necessary skills to tell stories in an imaginative and interesting
way. On Friday 26 February, a group of keen readers from the
scheme visited the local Worple Primary School to read some
stories to the Year 1 pupils, as well as talking to some Year 4
students about their favourite books.
Our students did a fantastic job of getting the Year 1 pupils
involved in the stories, and the boys and girls were absolutely
enraptured throughout. It was clear that the Isleworth & Syon
students had a great passion for stories, and this came across
throughout the morning. They did an excellent job, and should
be commended for showing the courage to get up and speak
to the group something that certainly isnt easy!

Students present their favourite book scene.

wORLD BOOK DAY

This years World Book Day fell on Wednesday 3 March, and
we commemorated the day in school in a number of ways. In
Design & Technology, Miss Jheeta invited students to build a
scene from their favourite book using cardboard and crepe
paper as you can see from the images above, students did a
fantastic job!
Miss Hannon in the English department asked students to
write book reviews in a number of categories, which then took
pride of place on the classroom wall. Students were asked to
think about books that transported them, thrilled them, made
them laugh, and changed the way they think (amongst other
categories), and it was a pleasure to read about how these
books had altered their perceptions!

Jake Bowden (9E), Stanley Wheeler-Kemp (7F) and Tinashe Chituku (7C) read
their story to the children.

Meanwhile, the humanities, mathematics and science

departments displayed teachers favourite novels and
recommended texts for independent learning, encouraging
students to embrace reading as a tool for enhancing
knowledge. That really gets to the root of what World Book
Day is about, and it was fantastic to see so many students
reading independently during breaktime and lunchtime.

STUDENT INVESTOR CHALLENGE

During the Autumn and Spring Terms, a group of Year 10
business students Josh Bavin (10B), Sidhant Shori (10B) and
Alfie Small (10D) entered the Student Investor Challenge.
This nationwide competition presents a simulation of the stock
market, with students given simulated money and asked to
decide what shares to buy. The top 500 teams in the UK with
the best portfolio qualified for the semi-final. The boys did
really well and did indeed place in the top 500 a particularly
impressive feat considering that many of the competitors were
from private schools.

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For the semi-final, students were given specific companies

and asked to predict the end price on each Friday, gaining
more points the closer they got. Although the boys did not
proceed to the final, they gave a fantastic showing and were a
credit to the school throughout. Afterwards, they remarked that
taking part in the competition had really encouraged an
interest in markets, and business and economics more
generally, which should serve them well as they move into
Year 11.

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ROBOTICS CLUB
Following its successful launch last year, Mr Elliston once
again ran a Robotics Club during 2015-16. The club is aimed
at students in Year 7 who have an interest in robotics and
programming, and it was great to see a core group of students
attending every week. Mr Elliston started by introducing the
concept of robotics, which immediately got the students
attention! From there, students were given a build-your-own
LEGO robot kit, and were tasked with assembling the robot.
On top of this, students were given a range of sensors, such
as light, movement, sound, and ultrasonic (distance). Each of
these sensors, when deployed effectively, can make the robot
behave in different ways, and the students had great fun
testing all the permutations.
The overall mission of the club was to get the robots to adapt
to the environment that they were in, eventually simulating
clearing rocks from a lunar surface. It was a pleasure to
witness the boys throwing themselves into the task, using
computer software to send commands to the robots and
witnessing the results. Its clear that there is a lot of talent
within this group perhaps we have unearthed the next
generation of engineers! Well done to the students for their
hard work.

YEAR 10 GEOGRAPHY
fIELD TRIP
A big part of the GCSE Geography class is the opportunity to
get out of the classroom and into the field, to study
geographical elements and discuss their results. To that end,
Miss Lawler and the geography department took 74 students
to Studland Bay for a field trip as part of their coursework, from
Monday 16 Wednesday 18 May.
On the first day, students walked a five-and-a-half mile round
trip, from Studland Beach to Old Harrys Rocks. Upon reaching
the top of the rock, the boys looked at landmarks, primarily
focusing on coastal landforms and arrangements. Tuesday
was a particularly long day, as students surveyed three
beaches, discussing the conflicts between management and
stakeholders. Students were also responsible for surveying
local residents for their opinions too a task that some
obviously relished more than others! It was great to see
everyone getting involved and asking some really insightful
questions in a polite and mature way.
It was a great trip, with students really throwing themselves
into the fieldwork. Hopefully this will bear dividends when their
coursework marks are released!

or member of the jury. Students had two cases they had to

learn, and even had the privilege of a real professional lawyer
coming into school to watch them rehearse.

STUDENTS IN THE
DOCK DURING MOCK
TRIAL COMPETITION
During the Autumn Term, Ms Hemings organised our
participation in the Bar Mock Trial Competition, inviting
students in Years 10 and 11 to take part. This was our first
year taking part in the scheme, and students performed very
admirably. It began with some practice sessions in school, with
students taking on different roles such as barrister, court clerk,

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Towards the end of the term, the boys travelled with Miss
Hannon and Mr Nowicki to Snaresbrook Crown Court, where
they competed against other London schools. In the
competition, the boys had to run the trial, with one school
taking on the role of the prosecution and the other, the
defence. We were really proud of the boys for their
performance amidst tough competition. The students certainly
seemed to enjoy themselves, with several inspired to further
investigate the prospect of a career in law.

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UK MATHS CHALLENGE
We have once again entered the UKMT Maths Challenge, with
143 students taking part across the three challenges Junior
(Year 8), Intermediate (Year 9) and Senior (Year 12). This is
an annual competition organised by the UK Maths Trust
(UKMT), designed to provoke students interest in
mathematics through multiple-choice papers. The challenge
attracts over 600,000 entries each year, from over 4,000
schools and colleges across the UK.
Out of those 143 students, over a third were awarded a medal,
be that Gold, Silver and Bronze. The full list of medal-winners
is included below. The Senior Challenge was first, taking place
on Thursday 5 November; Gurpreet Sagoo (12TBI) and

Charlie Gilchrist (13TBI) gained the best scores in Years 12

and 13 respectively. In the Intermediate Challenge (Thursday
4 February), James Pusey (9E) was Best in Year, while Anass
El Alwani (8C) scooped the Best in Year prize for the Junior
Challenge, which took place on Thursday 28 April.
In total, our Junior participants achieved two Gold, twelve
Silver and ten Bronze awards an outstanding result. Our
Intermediate competitors achieved three Silver and eight
Bronze, while the Seniors earned six Silvers and ten Bronze.
Well done to each and every one of the students who took part
in the challenge.

Junior

Intermediate

Senior

Gold
Anass EL ALWANI (8C) [Best in Year]
Jack SHIELS (8D)

Silver
Lucas MCPHERSON (9B)
James PUSEY (9E) [Best in Year]
Daniel VAKILI (9F)

Silver
Charlie GILCHRIST (13TBI) [Best in
Year 13]
Firdous HUSSAIN (12RON)
Tadas KAZIUKONIS (13TBI)
Varis KHAN (13RON)
Aman PATEL (13RON)
Gurpreet SAGOO (12TBI) [Best in Year
12]

Silver
Mohamed ABUGHRIS (8E)
Zohaib CHAUDHRI (8F)
Lazar DEKIC (8B)
Mustafa ELHASSAN (8E)
Theodore GOODMAN (8E)
Max JENKINS (8C)
Laxman JEYARAJASINGAM (8F)
Samuel NIXON (8D)
Jakub POSKROP (8A)
Hussain QURASHI (8D)
Charlie RYAN-EDWARDS (8A)
Joseph WHITTAKER (8F)

Bronze
Munir AHMADI (9C)
Ruhul-Amin AHMED (9C)
Kiran BHURTUN (9C)
Bilal BUKHARI (9C)
Alfie DENNIS (9E)
Faraaz KHAN (9B)
Ali NASIRI (9F)
Diallo WILLIAMS (9A)

Bronze
Waleed ALDILLAMI (8B)
Thomas BEAGLEY (8D)
Benjamin FRYE (8C)
Myles HARRIS (8C)
Joshua JULLADO (8D)
Ahmed KALAIR (8E)
Archie MCGLYNN (8F)
Mohamad SHEIKHNOOR (8E)
Taran SYAN (8F)
Harry WELLS (8E)

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Bronze
Abdifatah ABDI (13RON)
Furqan AHMAD (13TBI)
Dylan CARRUTHERS (12TBI)
Harith HAWAS (12TBI)
Adhiyan JEEVATHOL (12TBI)
Myan KELLAY (12RON)
Jonathan MARTINEZ DA CRUZ (12TBI)
Maxwell OMONDI (12TBI)
Lahibullah QURAISHI (12TBI)
Santhosh VETTICHCHELIYAN (12ANO)

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POETRY SLAM wINNERS AGAIN!

The boys acted out their poems as part of the session.

We were delighted on Wednesday 8 June, as

Isleworth & Syon won the Hounslow Poetry Slam
event for the second year in succession. The
event, hosted by the Hounslow Library Service,
took place at the Paul Robeson Theatre. A talented
group of Year 7 poets were invited to take part,
amongst several other borough schools.
The event was hosted by renowned slam poet Adam
Kammerling. Slam poetry is a specific genre of
poetry that focuses on the spoken word. It is certainly
an acquired skill, but our boys took it with aplomb,
eventually devising their own poem (shown right).
After a tense competition, our boys were judged the
winners, and they took home a shiny cup!
The boys were thrilled with their experience. Albert
Campling (7F) said: Loved it I always enjoy trying
new writing styles, while Jawaid Shamsse (7D)
went with a simple it was awesome! and Michael
Ehinze (7A) described it as exhilarating and breathtaking. Congratulations to all of the boys Albert
Campling, Jawaid Shamsse, Jude Collie (7D),
Stanley Wheeler-Kemp (7F), Ben Rawsthorne,
Jarod Allard, Michael Ehinze and Jason Zingapan!

I am from a city of culture and diversity

I am from a city of financial and economic depth
I am from a huge metropolis.
However, I am also from a city so overcrowded that people struggle
to find homes.
I am from a city so popular that its truth and lies are hidden deep
beneath its surface.
I am from London.
I am made of lies hidden from reach
I am made from issues that haunt my city
I am made from the pollution that weakens my hope of an ecofriendly world
I am made of London.
I have lost everything my home, my money, my belongings
I have lost so many things I practically live on nothing
I have lost the will to live
I have no pride
I have lost everything I might consider suicide
I have lost London.
I have found that deep beneath the negatives of a corrupt city there is
always a positive
I have found that the path to success lies right in front of you.
I have found that happiness is the key to the enjoyment of life
And now that I know that hope is what I need
I can start living anew.

The victorious students pose with their trophy!

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Written and performed by Michael Ehinze (7A), Ben Rawsthorne (7A)

and Jason Zingapan (7C)

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Curriculum

fRENCH STUDENTS
GET A TASTE Of
fRENCH CUISINE
Towards the end of the Summer Term, Miss Howard and Mrs
Lane in the MFL department have given their Year 9 French
students the chance to sample some French cuisine. First, the
classes decamped to the food technology kitchens to make
croque monsieur. Some of the students had never cooked
before, but all of the boys rose to the challenge and produced
some very tasty dishes! These were judged by CucinA head
chef Michael, who critiqued the dishes and suggested areas
for improvement. The overall winner was judged to be Drew
Mills (9B).
A week later, Mrs Lane brought in some French delicacies for
students to try, including some French cheeses, snacks, and
the pice de resistance snails. The look on the boys faces as
the snails were brought in was an absolute picture! However, it
was great to see almost everyone get up to try some snail, with
many commenting that it didnt taste as bad as they expected
some even enjoyed it! This was a great way for students to
engage with French culture outside of their study of the
language.

Paul Fanning (9A) tries a snail!

The winner - Drew Mills - with chef Michael.

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Curriculum

YEAR 9 VISIT YPRES

BY MISS SHUKLA, TEACHER OF HUMANITIES
In June, some of our Year 9 boys were very lucky to be able to
travel to France and Belgium, in order to visit numerous World
War 1 battlefield sites and memorials. This was an excellent
opportunity for these boys to practically apply the knowledge
from their curriculum outside of the classroom.
Although the journey was long and tiresome, the boys were
able to see The Jungle, the refugee camp in Calais, and
receive a mini-lesson from Mr Evans about the plight of
refugees. On day one, we took part in the Last Post at Menin
Gate, where two of our best dressed and most respectful boys
placed the school memorial wreath, along with many others, to
commemorate the soldiers that battled in the First World War
from our school. The boys were honoured to walk through the
procession with many others to pay their respects.

Above: Students take in one of the memorials.

Below: The boys take some time to reflect.

The next day held much in store for the boys. We were
fortunate enough to visit the astounding Vimy Ridge and
Theipval memorials as the Battle of the Somme centennial
was being commemorated. Not only were the boys able to pay
their respects to fellow Isleworthians that had fought in the
war, but also experience a taste of trench life. The hardships of
the life of a soldier were brought to light for many of the boys,
who realised just how difficult the living conditions were, giving
them an empathetic insight for the men who fought for either
side of the war.
Our final day of the trip brought a sense of reflection as we
headed to the Coming World Remember Me project, a
scheme created to put the scale of the war into perspective by
creating 600,000 clay models to represent the lives lost in
Belgium. The boys put a lot of effort and enthusiasm into
making their models and were delighted to contribute to such a
symbolic mission.
Although worn out, the boys commented on how much they
enjoyed the trip, and how much they learned. It was a valuable
learning experience where the students could have a hands-on
approach to their education, and feel a deeper understanding
for those who courageously fought in one of the most iconic
wars of the 20th century.
In the trenches!

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YEAR 7 fLY AwAY

wITH ALADDIN
As a reward for their outstanding behaviour during their first
time at Isleworth & Syon, selected Year 7 & 8 students were
taken to the Paul Robeson Theatre on Thursday 17 December
for a special performance of the pantomime Aladdin. The
show was performed by the London Contemporary Theatre
and the Hounslow Arts Centre, and we were lucky enough to
receive free tickets from the centre. It was an outstanding
performance; some of the boys feedback is included below:

The pantomime was good and it was fun to watch. I felt

really lucky to watch that. Kaushik Gandi (8C)

I really enjoyed the pantomime when playing the film

Aladdin because it was really engaging. Maseh
Abdulwahid (8F)

It was great! I couldn't pick a favourite character or scene

because I loved the whole play. Khryan Hooghan (7B)

I enjoyed the pantomime a lot and I thoroughly enjoyed my

trip to go watch it. Ben Rawsthorne (7A)

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YEAR 9 VISITED
BY HOLOCAUST
SURVIVOR
On Thursday 28 April, we were privileged to
welcome George Vulkan into school. Mr
Vulkan survived the Holocaust, and came in
to talk to Year 9 about his experiences at that
time. The Holocaust forms a large part of the
Year 9 history curriculum, and so it was
fascinating for Year 9 to hear a first-hand
account of what life was like for Mr Vulkan.
First, Mr Vulkan had lunch with some of our
A-Level History students. He brought along a
journal containing several artefacts from his
past, including schoolbooks which he was
forced to emblazon with the Nazi swastika
symbol. The boys asked some great
questions during the informal conversation.
Then, Mr Vulkan headed to the hall to address
Year 9. He told his sobering and poignant
story, giving some vivid details about life in
Austria during the Nazi reign. He discussed
the segregation, and how he, as a Jewish
man, was forbidden from speaking with the
Christian children and forced to sit at the back
of the class. Eventually, Mr Vulkan was
expelled from his school and forced to go to a
separate school for Jewish boys.

Robert Vulkan with all of the boys who asked questions.

Year 9 listened intently as Mr Vulkan discussed how he moved to Britain in

February 1939. At the end of his talk, they were given the opportunity to ask
questions, which they did in a very mature fashion. These events are extremely
important in bringing the curriculum to life, engaging the students with realworld stories instead of second-hand resources from a textbook or the internet.
All of the boys came away from the talk with an increased understanding of the
magnitude of the Holocausts horrors, and we would like to thank the Holocaust
Educational Trust for organising the event, and Mr Vulkan for giving his time to
come and talk to us.

KEw
NATIONAL
ARCHIVES
Monday 27 June saw Mr Nowicki take a small
group of Year 9 students to the National
Archives in Kew for a Study Day. The boys
were selected because they had chosen to
take GCSE History next year, and so this day
was intended as a springboard for them as
they head towards Key Stage 4.
The Day was designed to commemorate the
Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916), and this
workshop invited our boys to investigate
primary sources from the battle. The boys
were given the opportunity to read some firsthand personal accounts of what happened on
that fateful day, as well as war records that
detailed the events that transpired.
This was an excellent opportunity to develop
historical skills and think as historians think. It
is completely different from the classroom
style of teaching, with students responsible

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Students investigate sources.

for using their own initiative and skills of research. The boys were even given
the opportunity to be creative, with some writing poems. The leaders of the day
were extremely impressed with the boys, live-streaming some of their work on
Twitter! It was, in all, a fantastic day, with the boys coming out of their comfort
zone and learning first-hand about sources and investigation.

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Awards

KEY STAGE 3 AwARDS EVENING

It was a pleasure to welcome a fantastic
turnout of parents/carers and other
family members to our annual Key Stage
3 Awards Evening on Tuesday 12 July.
This event celebrates the continued
successes from our students at KS3
(Years 7-9) throughout 2015-16. There
was a truly celebratory mood in the
school hall as we celebrated the
sustained hard work, dedication and
attainment from the students.
It was a delight to present Academic &
Pastoral Awards to each year group in
turn. Mr Dargan first introduced Year 7,
where 27 students picked up awards
some were subject-based, while others
were more on the pastoral side. Three
students picked up three prizes in total:
Nathaniel Buendia (7E), Albert Campling
(7F) and Akeel Shah (7D) - a great effort.
Mr Dargan revealed that Year 7 were the
highest group in the school for predicted
attainment, which demonstrates what an
excellent transition into secondary school
they have had.
He then moved on to the Year 8 awards,
with 31 students receiving recognition.
Pick of the bunch was Lar-Leander Volle
(8C), who picked up FIVE separate
awards art, English, religious
education, Brilliant Club and the
Pastoral Leader Award. It should also be
mentioned that two other students

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picked up four individual prizes Sameh

Esmailzadah and Josiah Wilson Kepple
(both 8A). Well done to them we now
look to all of our Year 8 students to
really push on as they enter the final
year of Key Stage 3.
After a brief but excellent musical
interlude from Alan Wali (9C) and
Sammy Standing (9B) reprising their
outstanding performance from Summer
Arts - Mr McAlinden promptly took over
the reins for the Year 9 awards, where
33 boys were honoured for a variety of
awards. John Drexler Alvaran (9E) won
four awards (including the Pastoral
Leader Award), while Diallo Williams
(9A) picked up three. In total, 91 boys
picked up Academic and Pastoral
Awards during the evening each has a
different story and has overcome some
obstacles along the way. The message
from Mr McAlinden and Mr Dargan was
for students to use this as a springboard
for future success!
There were a series of miscellaneous
awards to finish off (full list contained
overleaf). 26 boys were given
Citizenship Colours, rewarding boys
who have shown themselves to be
outstanding, model citizens. A series of
sports and other miscellaneous cups
were also given out Sammy Standing
(9B) won two, the Library Award and the

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Music Cup. It was then time for the

highlight of the evening, the
Headteachers Cup. First awarded by Mr
Ferguson in 2014, this prize is given to
the Year 9 student who has
demonstrated continued excellence in a
variety of fields during their time at
Isleworth & Syon. The tension was thick
in the air, as Mr Ferguson was the only
person in the room who knew the
winners identity! He eventually gave the
cup to John Drexler Alvaran. Well done
to everyone who won an award events
like this just reiterate and exemplify the
outstanding breadth of talent and hard
work on display at the school.

John Alvaran wins the Headteacher's Cup.

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Awards

KEY STAGE 3 ACADEMIC AND PASTORAL AWARDS

Year 7
Ahmad Alhasan
Nathaniel Buendia
House Pastoral Award,

Computing
Geography, Shackleton
The Brilliant Club:
STEM
Hamid Butt
Food Technology
Albert Campling
Drama, Science,
Turner House Pastoral
Award
Joshua Cherian
Music
Shyamalan Chidambaram Science
Tinashe Chituku
Design & Technology,
Pastoral Leader Award
Jude Collie
Drama
Elliot Culling
Mathematics, The
Brilliant Club: Arts
Michael Ehinze
Brunel House Pastoral
Award
Joshua Hixon
French
Khyran Hooghan
Design & Technology
Jake Ince-Moore
Music
Mansoor Ismail
Computing
Jivanjee Jivanjee
Physical Education,
Shackleton House
Pastoral Award
Ruben Lopes
English
Malih Makame
Food Technology
Dhruval Patel
Turner House Pastoral
Award
Ben Rawsthorne
English, Pastoral Leader
Award
Aidan Rimmer
Physical Education
Armaan Sachdeva
The Brilliant Club:
STEM
Akeel Shah
Art, Science, Brunel
House Pastoral Award
Jawaid Shamsse
History
Terrence Stevens
History
Aman Suhaim
Art
Jimmy Winsor-Franklin
French
Jason Zingapan
Mathematics

Year 8
Faisal Abdi
Maseh Abdulwahid
Humayun Bajwa
Thomas Beagley
Zohaib Chaudhri
Erikas Debolskij
Khyle Erese
Sameh Esmailzadah
Benjamin Frye
Theodore Goodman
Hubert Grzelazka
Daniel Hinds
Bleron Hoxhaj
Adil Hussain
Laxman Jeyarajasingam
Joshua Jullado
Jack Lewis
Philip Lisiewicz
Jude Maddock-Youngs
Archie Mcglynn
Cadell Osborne
Wiktor Pelczar
Henry Rathore
Charlie Ryan-Edwards
Fady Shams
Mohamad Sheikhnoor
Jack Shiels
Thomas Skinner
Lars-Leander Volle

Joseph Whittaker
Josiah Wilson Kepple

Food Technology
Turner House Pastoral
Award
Spanish
Science
Turner House Pastoral
Award
Art
Shackleton House
Pastoral Award
RE, Pastoral Leader
Award, The Brilliant
Club: Arts
Geography
Shackleton House
Pastoral Award
Geography
Computing
English
Brunel House Pastoral
Award
Mathematics
Design & Technology
History
Computing, Brunel
House Pastoral Award
Geography, Science
Music, Science
History, Physical
Education
Food Technology
Drama
Spanish
Design & Technology
French
French
French, Mathematics,
The Brilliant Club: Arts
Art, English, RE,
Pastoral Leader Award,
The Brilliant Club:
STEM
Physical Education
Drama, Music, Spanish,
The Brilliant Club: Arts

Year 9
Abdullah Abdullah

Turner House Pastoral

Award
Jamil Aden
PSHCE
John Alvaran
English, Geography,
Pastoral Leader Award,
Gifted and Talented
Omar Ammoune
Physical Education
Silvio Belsito Bright
Computing
Taylor Blakeney
Physical Education,
Shackleton House
Pastoral Award
Jake Bowden
Drama, Food
Technology
Alec Brundle
Brunel House Pastoral
Award, Gifted and
Talented
Hamza Diriye
French
Christopher Dobson
Physical Education
Patryk Dolecki
Mathematics
Kacper Dzienisik
Design & Technology
Arnav Gupta
Art
Shiva Gupta
Drama
Camaran Hooghan
Pastoral Leader Award
Maxim Kim
Science
Anthony Lewing
Computing, Science
Jonah Manning
Music, PSHCE
Will Millett
Art
Antonio Monteiro
French
Aaditya Mudhar
English
Ali Nasiri
Geography
Che Nicholas
Food Technology
Samuel Norman
Design & Technology
James Pusey
Spanish
Jude Saunders
History
Samuel Standing
Shackleton House
Pastoral Award
Maksymilian Szejko
Brunel House Pastoral
Award
Daniel Vakili
History, Gifted and
Talented
Alan Wali
Music
Alexander Whelan-Mensah History, PSHCE
Diallo Williams
Geography,
Mathematics, Spanish
Montel Williams
Turner House Pastoral
Award

ADDITIONAL AWARDS
CITIZENSHIP COLOURS (TIES & FLASHES)
Amritesh Panda
Munir Ahmadi
James Pusey
John Alvaran
Akash Rajagobal
Mustafa Amiri
Jude Saunders
Omar Ammoune
Daanyaal Sheikh
Silvio Belsito Bright
Samuel Standing
Taylor Blakeney
Maksymilian Szejko
Alec Brundle
James Van Zyl
Camaran Hooghan
Alan Wali
Daniel Jdid
Diallo Williams
Asad Kapadi
Max Woolford
Shaan Mahal
Parsa Yaghouti Hassan Kiadeh
Muhammad Miah
Aaditya Mudhar
Soufian Najeeb

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SPORTS AWARDS
Javelle Roberts
Basketball Cup
Ryan Peries
Cricket Cup
Alec Brundle
Rugby Cup
Omar Ammoune
Football Shield
Christopher Dobson Cross-Country Cup
Daanyaal Sheikh
Badminton Cup
Diallo Williams
Weekly Cup Athletics

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MISCELLANEOUS CUPS
Samuel Standing
Library Award
Bilal Bukhari
Junior Debating Cup
Alec Brundle
Paul McLoughlin
Poetry Prize
Ali Nasiri
Bernard Pitts
Elocution Cup
Aaditya Mudhar
Drama Cup
Samuel Standing
Music Cup
George Evans
Smallberry Green Cup
for Endeavour
Daniel Vakili
Isleworthians (1947)
Trophy
John Drexler Alvaran Headteachers Cup

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Awards

SENIOR AwARDS EVENING

Our Senior Awards Evening is one of the highlights of the
school calendar, as we celebrate students in Years 10-13 who
have made an outstanding commitment to the culture of
success that we aim to foster at Isleworth & Syon. In total, 140
students collected awards on Thursday 22 September. There
were a wide range of categories, but each of them were linked
by a single factor they showed great commitment, work ethic
and dedication during 2015-2016.
This year, we were pleased to welcome John Edwards as our
special guest. John is a former student of Isleworth & Syon
(1993-1998) who is now an award-winning architect. His
current project is close to his heart, as he is integral to the new
teaching block work currently taking place on the school site.
He gave a short address at the end of this ceremony, talking
about how coming to Isleworth & Syon gave him the skills
necessary for success. It was very inspirational for the students
listening intently in the audience!
As usual, Ms Simms compered the evening, assisted by Mr
Lightfoot and Mr Doyle. We began with the Subject & Pastoral
Awards, as a staggering 106 students collected awards across
the four year groups. Many students collected multiple prizes,
but a special mention must be given to Qaiser Khan (10F) and
Gheorghe Rotaru (11E), who each won four prizes. Qaiser also
won a music scholarship later in the evening.
During the evening, there were several performances from
members of the performing arts department. Before the event
started, the audience were treated to a drama department
video montage compiled by Curriculum Leader Mr McDonnell,
which showed some of the highlights of a fantastic last few
years. During the ceremony there were two interludes from the
concert band, as they performed Pirates of the Caribbean and
Star Wars: The Force Awakens with great aplomb. It was
particularly pleasing to see four Year 7 students taking part in
only their third week at Isleworth & Syon. David Carter (7F),
James Ellard (7B), Matthew Nunan (7F) and Zak Osahn (7B)
displayed great courage to perform these difficult pieces in front
of a large crowd.

Special guest John Edwards with Mr Ferguson.

We also gave out a huge swathe of cups and trophies during the
evening the full list is overleaf. A special mention must go to the
students who collected two cups each: Ellis Bloom (the
Isleworthians (1947) Trophy, as well as joint-winner of the Drama
Cup) and Zack Taylor (Paul McLoughlin Poetry Prize and Tranter
Cup for Endeavour). Both boys demonstrated outstanding
progress and success during their time at the school.
It was then time for the final award, the Headmasters Cup,
presented to the senior student who has demonstrated a
prolonged and consistent contribution to the life of the school.
This years recipient was Louis Kelly, an affable and reliable
student always willing to help out in a huge variety of ways.
Louis now studies at the University of Exeter, and we wish
him well.
Congratulations to each and every one of this years award
winners. They have done the school and their families proud.

Mr Ferguson announces the Headmaster's Cup winner.

See all of our tweets from this event by checking out

#IsleworthAwards.

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Awards

SUBJECT & PASTORAL AWARDS

YEAR 10
Arash Afrazeh
Arslaan Ahmad
Jordan Ako
Tarq Aljammal
Sacha Allen
Ali Al-Skafi
Varun Alvakonda
Deven Clarke
Ben Crittenden
Oskari GibsonWadsworth
Ali Harb
Lee Henesy
Joshua Hudnott
Mateeullah Kakar
Tom Keenan
Qaiser Khan
Kieran Liu
Theo Mitchell-Smith
Ayub Mohamed
Faizan Muhammad
Mubanga Mulenga
Haleem Pall
Samim Rahmani
Sameer Rashid
Tsema Rewane
Sevak Sohi
Ayub Suggulle
Alfie Thomas
Jack Torbett
Tim-Frederic Volle
YEAR 11
Ahmed Abuelmeaza
Iffy Ahmed
Harry Case
Arun Chadha
Wesley Cheung
Miles Clark
Hamza Dhala
Adam Greaves
Yaseen Hammad
Hasseeb Hussain
Charlie Inman
Michael Jara
Edrin Kalyango
Mohan Kumar
Manahar Kumar

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Business Studies
Shackleton House Award
Music
Economics
Media Studies
D&T: Electronic Products
English, History
ICT
Art, ICT
Media Studies
Physics
Art
Mathematics
Chemistry
Drama, Pastoral Award
Year 10
D&T: Electronic
Products, French, Music,
Turner House Award
Geography
Biology, Geography,
Spanish
Media Studies
Biology
Drama
French
Chemistry
Brunel House Award,
Physics
Physical Education
Physical Education
History
Business Studies
English
Mathematics, Pastoral
Award Year 10

Art
Performing Arts
Economics, English,
Physical Education
History
Art
Mathematics
Media Studies, Pastoral
Award Year 11
Music, Shackleton House
Award
D&T: Electronic Products
Biology, ICT, Physics
D&T: Food Technology
Performing Arts
Business Studies,
Geography
Brunel House Award,
Economics, History
Turner House Award

Laszlo Kunu
Dilan Lakhani
Maxim Lundlack-Orr
Omar Mahfoudi
Usman Mahmood
Andi Meta
Charlie Mills
Abdelrahman Moussa
Ryan Nation
Gheorghe Rotaru
Muhammad Sabri
Sultan Said
Aman Sihra
Dylan Sihra
Harry Stenholm
Rafat Uddin
Aman Verma
Ramneet Virdee
Robbie Whitmore
YEAR 12
Alex Bilbiie
Diogo Da Silva
Isaiah Dash
Cara Doyle
Thomas Egan
Finlay Fox
Omar Habib
Harith Hawas
Shadnan Ishan
Adhiyan Jeevathol
Sophie Lucas
Danyal Naidu
Maxwell Omondi
Lahibullah Quraishi
Prince Radhakrishnan
Jocelyn Richman
Gadoffre
Gurpreet Sagoo
Taranvir Samra
Jamie Tilt
Dino Velagic
Samuel Willingham
YEAR 13
Saleh Ammouna
Ellis Bloom
George Bridgewater
Matthew Carter
Lewis Edmund
Ali Eta
Cameron Fall-Everett

Physical Education
D&T: Food Technology
Music
Chemistry
Media Studies
Physical Education
Music
Mathematics
Drama
Chemistry, Drama, French,
GCSE, Physical Education
French
English
D&T: Electronic Products
D&T: Electronic Products
Geography
Pastoral Award Year 11,
Physical Education
ICT, Media Studies
Business Studies
Biology, Physics, Spanish

Business Studies, ICT

BTEC
ICT, Pastoral Award
Year 12
Media Studies
Chemistry, Music
Art
Drama, Media Studies,
Performing Arts
Physical Education
Mathematics
English
History, Physics
Art, Drama,
Performing Arts
English, History
Mathematics, Pastoral
Award Year 12, Physics
Biology, Chemistry
Physical Education
Art
Biology
Business Studies, ICT
Physical Education
Media Studies
ICT BTEC

Chemistry, Mathematics,
Physics
Business Studies
Drama, History
Physics
ICT
Pastoral Award Year 13
D&T: Electronic Products

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Aamir Hussain
George King
Thomas Knox
Vikrant Mudhar
Amelia Offord
Aman Patel
Abhay Rawlings
Rachel Rodipe
Louis Rugg
Umair Shah
Em Shanahan
George Stow
Emelio Titus
Kelvin Wong

English
ICT
Biology, Mathematics
ICT BTEC
Art
Chemistry
Physical Education
Physical Education
Media Studies
Biology
Media Studies
Geography
Geography, History,
Pastoral Award Year 13
Business Studies, ICT
BTEC

SPORTS AWARDS
HIGHER SPORTS LEADER AWARD
Nopagorn Whitington
SPIRIT OF DUKE OF EDINBURGHS
AWARD
Kareem Zeido
DAWES CUP
Akash Choudhury
FARAH CUP
Jacob Canning
PREM GEORGE BADMINTON CUP
Sevak Sohi
BASKETBALL CUP
Omar Habib
BOB EDMONDS CRICKET CUP
Jamie Tilt
FOOTBALL SHIELD
Josiah Abraham
ROBBIE JONES RUGBY CUP
Lauri Gibson-Wadsworth
PAUL PAYNE CLUBMAN CUP
Kamran Anwar
BARRY GOLDSBY CUP
Prince Radhakrishnan
SPECIAL AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION
TO SPORT
Iffy Ahmed

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Awards

SUBJECT & PASTORAL AWARDS

GCSE
Hasseeb Hussain
Manahar Kumar
Yacin Lakehal
Omar Mahfoudi
Conor O'Kelly
Gheorghe Rotaru
Abijit Singh
Harry Stenholm
Rowan Thwaites
Ashvin Virdee
Robbie Whitmore

PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT
AWARDS
Oskar GibsonYear 10
Wadsworth
Tyler Langan
Year 10
Iffy Ahmed
Year 11
Andrew Kakeeto
Year 11
Zack Taylor
Year 11
Ramneet Virdee
Year 11
Ashley Ward
Year 11
Kieran Alexis
Year 13
Daniel Zapata
Year 13

A-LEVEL
Saleh Ammouna
Andy Brown
Matthew Carter
Lewis Edmund
Joseph Formby
Lauri Gibson-Wadsworth
Jason Irvine-Coates
Thomas Knox
Milan Mistry
Brandon Mitchell
Abhay Rawlings
Rachel Rodipe
Umair Shah
Harry Walker
Nopagorn Whitington
Charlie Williams
Kelvin Wong

PTA SHIELD
9B

GOVERNORS AWARDS
Amelia Offord
Art & Design
Lewis Edmund
BTEC ICT
Rachel Rodipe
BTEC Sport
Emelio Titus
Business
Cameron Fall-Everett D&T:
Systems &
Control
Jack Takeda
Drama &
Theatre
Studies
Louis Kelly
English
Olivia Barnes
Geography
Nicholas Ryde
History
Kelvin Wong
ICT
Thomas Knox
Mathematics
Louis Rugg
Media
Studies
Louis Rugg
Music
Sachin Jassal
Physical
Education
Aman Patel
Science
Umair Shah
Science
Benjamin Vertkin
Science
PROGRESS AWARDS
Kacper Piasecki
Year 9
Abijit Singh
Year 11
Ashvin Virdee
Year 11
Louis Kelly
Year 13
James McLaughlin
Year 13

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BOSELEY ESSAY CUP

Harry Rumball

TRANTER CUP FOR

ENDEAVOUR
Zack Taylor

OLD ISLEWORTHIANS BOWL

JACK CHAPMAN CUP
Jahi Laing
George Bridgewater
THE ISLEWORTHIANS (1947)
TROPHIES
HEAD BOY AWARD
Josh Bavin - Senior
Thomas Knox
Abhay Rawlings Sixth Form
HEADMASTERS CUP
Ellis Bloom - Overall
Louis Kelly
CALDICOTT LAKE
SCHOLARSHIP
Saleh Ammouna

LIBRARY AWARD
Emelio Titus
VOCATIONAL EXCELLENCE
AWARD
Rachel Rodipe
DAWES WORK SALVER
Diogo Da Silva
CARILLION WORK
EXPERIENCE TROPHY
Tyler Langan
BEATCREATIVE
ENTERPRISE TROPHY
Bart Wieloch
PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD
Nizar Mneimne
DRAMA CUP
Ellis Bloom
George Bridgewater
Louis Kelly
Em Shanahan
Jack Takeda

COLOURS TIES 2014-2015

JOHN TAYLOR MUSIC CUP

Maxim Lundlack-Orr
MUSIC SCHOLARSHIPS
Jordan Ako
Qaiser Khan
PAUL MCLOUGHLIN
POETRY PRIZE
Zack Taylor
DEBATING CUP
Amaan Khan
MR & MRS MORLEY CUP
FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING
Yuvraj Assi

Colours can be awarded in a number of areas of school life.

The colours take the form of a flash (to be sewn on blazers) or a
tie. Ties are awarded for exceptional performance over a period
of time and are awarded on one occasion. The award of Colour
Ties to first-time recipients, is recorded here.
ACADEMIC
Year 9
ALVARAN, John
AMIR, Mohammad
DENNIS, Alfie
GUPTA, Arnav
KAPADI, Asad
KIM, Maxim
LOGAN, Daniel
MAHAL, Shaan
MCPHERSON, Lucas
MCQUEEN, Ross
MILLETT, Will
MUDHAR, Aadi

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NAJEEB, Soufian
NASIRI, Ali
PUSEY, James
RAZAGHI, Dara
SINKEVICIUS, Danielius
STANDING, Samuel
WILLIAMS, Diallo
WILLIAMS, Montel
Year 10
ALJAMMAL, Tarq
BRYAN, Max
CRITTENDEN, Ben
DABBUR, Hadi
HAMADNEH, Eamon

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Awards

JASRA, Adit
KENT, Thomas
KOZIEL, Kordian
McHALE, Cody
MWANGI, Ian
PALL, Haleem
QURAISHI, Munibullah
SAID, Ayyub
THOMAS, Alfie
WIELOCH, Bartosz
Year 11
CLARKE, Jordan
DHALA, Hamza
GULED, Mohamed
LOUIS, Jordan
JADOON, Fahd
MNEIMNE, Nizar
MOUSSA, Abdelrahman
SAID, Sultan
SEKHON, Aranveer
SIHRA, Aman
SIHRA, Dylan
SINGH, Abijit
VARA, Pavan
VERMA, Aman
Sixth Form
BARNES, Olivia
BROWN, Andy
GIBSON-WADSWORTH, Lauri
HUSSAIN, Aamir
IRVINE-COATES, Jason
McLAUGHLIN, James
MITCHELL, Brandon
RAWLINGS, Abhay
RODIPE, Rachel
WALKER, Harry
WHITINGTON, Nopagorn
WILLIAMS, Charlie
WONG, Kelvin

ARTS
Year 9
BERRYMAN, Kendall
BUKHARI, Syed Bilal
BOWDEN, Jake
BRUNDLE, Alec
GUPTA, Shiva
KIAL, Adam
MANNING, Jonah
MARRABLE, Cain
MILLETT, Will
MUDHAR, Aadi
MURPHY, Tom
STANDING, Samuel
STASIK, Jakub
WALI, Alan
Year 10
AKO, George
AKO, Jordan
BALTACHI NEJAD, Amir
BAVIN, Joshua

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SINKEVICIUS, Danielius
UDDIN, Arian
VAKILI, Daniel
WALI, Alan
WILLIAMS, Diallo
WILLIAMS, Montel

HENESY, Lee
MUSTAFA, Sameem
TORBETT, Jack
WIELOCH, Bartosz
Year 11
JARA, Michael
NATION, Ryan

CITIZENSHIP
Year 9
AHMADI, Munir
ALVARAN, John
AMIRI, Mustafa
AMMOUNE, Omar
BELSITO BRIGHT, Silvio
BERRYMAN, Kendall
BLAKENEY, Taylor
BRUNDLE, Alec
HOOGHAN, Camaran
JDID, Daniel
KAPADI, Asad
MAHAL, Shaan
MIAH, Muhammad
MUDHAR, Aadi
NAJEEB, Soufian
NASIRI, Ali
PANDA, Amritesh
PUSEY, James
RAJAGOBAL, Akash
SAUNDERS, Jude
SHEIKH, Daanyaal
STANDING, Samuel
SZEJKO, Maksymilian
VAN ZYL, James
WALI, Alan
WILLIAMS, Diallo
WOOLFORD, Max
YAGHOUTI HASSAN KIADEH, Parsa
Year 10
AFRAZEH, Arash
FAHEEM, Qasid
FARAH, Sakaria
Year 11
VIRDEE, Ashvin

PROGRESS
Year 9
ALI, Mohamed
ALVARAN, John
DIRIYE, Hamza
GUNATILAKA, Uvindu
GUPTA, Arnav
KHAN, Faraaz
MAHAL, Shaan
MUDHAR, Aadi
NAJEEB, Soufian
NOZKA, Kacper
PIASECKI, Kacper
RAZAGHI, Dara
SAUNDERS, Jude

Year 10
AFRAZEH, Arash
AHMAD, Arslaan
AKO, Jordan
ALJAMMAL, Tarq
ASSI, Yuvraj
CISOWSKI, Kacper
HASSAN, Saif
JASRA, Adit
KAYANI, Mustafa
KEENAN, Tom
KOZIEL, Kordian
LIU, Kieran
MITCHELL, Ethan
MUHAMMAD, Faizan
MWANGI, Ian
REWANE, Tsema
ROSENBEIGER, Kewin
SHORI, Sidhant
THOMAS, Alfie
Year 11
CLARKE, Jordan
ETE, Louis
HUSSAIN, Hasseeb
JARA, Michael
KUNU, Laszlo
LOUIS, Jordan
META, Andi
MOUSSA, Abdelrahman
Sixth Form
BARNES, Olivia
BROWN, Andy
GIBSON-WADSWORTH, Lauri
HUSSAIN, Aamir
MITCHELL, Brandon
RAWLINGS, Abhay
RODIPE, Rachel
WONG, Kelvin

SCHOOL
Year 9
ALVARAN, John
DIRIYE, Hamza
DOLECKI, Patryk
HOOGHAN, Camaran
LEWING, Anthony
NASIRI, Ali
PUSEY, James
RAZAGHI, Dara
SAUNDERS, Jude
STANDING, Samuel
VAKILI, Daniel
WALI, Alan
WILLIAMS, Montel

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Year 10
ALVAKONDA, Varun
CISOWSKI, Kacper
CLARKE, Deven
GIBSON-WADSWORTH, Oskar
KAPOOR, Sinhe
KHAN, Qaiser
LIU, Kieran
MULENGA, Mubanga
RASHID, Sameer
Year 11
CHEUNG, Wesley
TAYLOR, Zack

SPORT
Year 9
AMMOUNE, Omar
BHATTI, Isa
BLAKENEY, Taylor
BRUNDLE, Alec
DOBSON, Christopher
DUNHAM, Benjamin
EDU-NVONO, Emmanuel
JAMES, Gabriel
LOGAN, Daniel
MCQUEEN, Ross
NOZKA, Kacper
NYANZI, Ben
PERIES, Ryan
RIZWAN, Sawaiz
ROBERTS, Javelle
SANGOWAWA, Boluwatife
SHEIKH, Daanyaal
SYAN, Manraj
SZEJKO, Maksymilian
WHELAN-MENSAH, Alexander
WILLIAMS, Diallo
Year 10
ASSI, Yuvraj
BAVIN, Joshua
CANNING, Jacob
CEKAJ, Alban
CHOUDHURY, Akash
EGUEGU, Sean
GIBSON-WADSWORTH, Oskar
McHALE, Cody
MEIER, Taz
REWANE, Tsema
SUTTON, Charlie
THOMAS, Alfie
WILLIAMS, Kyle

Sixth Form
BROWN, Andy
IRVINE-COATES, Jason
McLAUGHLIN, James
MITCHELL, Brandon
RAWLINGS, Abhay
RODIPE, Rachel

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Charity & Community

SAVE THE CHILDREN

CAMPAIGN RAISES
NEARLY 1500
Just in time for Christmas, the school organised a charity
campaign to support Save the Children. This international
charity aims to tackle child poverty in order to give families a
fair chance at life and to try and prevent severe poverty not
just abroad but also at home. This campaign involved buying
gifts (costing upwards of 5.00) for children and communities
around the world, to make a significant difference to childrens
lives. We ran an inter-house fundraising event, where each
form group could decide which gift they would try to buy for a
child or family in need.
Each form group was given a thermometer to track the amount
of money that was raised. We were delighted that students
from across the school raised an astonishing 1,497.35 for
Save the Children, a staggering amount. Shackleton were the
champion fundraisers with an outstanding 673.55. In second
place was Turner with 385.66, while bringing up the rear was
Brunel with a still-impressive 327.33. The top performing form
was 7E, who raised an unbelievable 164.39. Well done, and
thank you, to Miss Hannon and her form for their effort!
With the money that we have raised, we have been able to
purchase water filters, midwife training, bicycles, survival kits,
winter clothes for a child, footballs, and health care for a child

Well done to 7E and Miss Hannon!

for a year, amongst others! Three form groups used their

money to buy goats, while 10D spent their funds on four tree
saplings. Three forms raised enough money to buy four
separate gifts, which is an absolutely excellent effort. Once we
had made all of our purchases, there was still money left over;
this 190 was spent on a donkey!
One of our three pastoral priorities for 2015-16 was to ensure
that our students are thoughtful, active and caring citizens.
These charity campaigns are very important to the school, and
we seek to engage all students in local, national and global
fundraising campaigns. There will be more fundraising efforts
in 2016-17; keep an eye on the schools website for more
information.

SPORT RELIEf
On Friday 18 March, the school raised
money for Sport Relief, a fantastic charity
which saves lives both in the UK and abroad.
The main event was the house-organised
Rowathon, taking place all day in the school
hall. Students took ten-minute bursts on the
rowing machines, with the challenge to see
which house could row the furthest over the
course of the day. Although ten minutes
doesnt sound like too long a time, it was
certainly more difficult than it sounds, and
the boys had to dig deep to keep going. The
full results are shown below.

1st

TURNER

68,685m rowed

2nd BRUNEL

67,621m rowed

3rd

These fantastic figures mean that each

house rowed the equivalent distance of
Dover to Calais and back a phenomenal
achievement. During the day, students in
Years 7-9 were also allowed to dress in
sports kit for the day for a minimum donation
of 1. The final total raised by the school for
Sport Relief was an excellent 381.95
thank you to everyone who took part, and to
the House Leaders for organising the day.

Students supported each other during tough times in the Rowathon!

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SHACKLETON 67,225m rowed

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Charity & Community

The aim of the group is to help young people by giving them a

positive outlet and using dance to teach them the importance
of discipline and commitment through his dance classes. It is
this pledge to help those in the local community that landed
Torron-Lee his award, which he collected from the Palace of
Westminster on Thursday 7 July.

TORRON-LEE DEwAR
wINS BRITISH
CITIZEN AwARD
We were delighted to receive notice in July that one of our
former students, Torron-Lee Dewar, has been recognised at
the House of Lords with a British Citizen Award. This award is
presented to people that have made a significant impact on
their local community. Torron-Lee is the founder of the dance
group Alliance Dance Unit (ADU), which works with young
people from underprivileged backgrounds in the local
community. Torron-Lee has been working with the troupe
which he started along with five friends since 2010.

Torron-Lee told the BCA, This dance company has inspired

people to make the right choices and thats what I enjoy most
about the group; even when it is hard to find the inspiration, its
all about being different. Well done to Torron-Lee for his
award; it is such a pleasure for us to see our alumni making
such a difference. We hope that this inspires our current
students to make similar efforts to help those less fortunate!

wE DAY
This year, we have once again organised the WE Act
scheme, with students from across the school invited to meet
once a week to discuss how the school can raise more money
for charity. As part of the scheme, the boys were invited to the
WE Day event, which took place on Wednesday 9 March.
Here is Asad Kapadis (9D) report.

Last year, we went to a unique experience at the SSE Arena,

Wembley. The event was called WE Day. This event brought
tens of thousands of people together from all over the UK for
one specific reason to change the world! To go to WE Day,
you cant buy a ticket you have to earn one. This is achieved
by participating in one local action and one global action.
Throughout the day, there were many performances, ranging
from professional songs to inspirational speeches. This
impacted on me positively as it motivated me to do more for
charity and to appreciate what I have. As the day went on, it
touched more and more people. The speech that got my
attention the most was about a girl from abroad, who came to
the UK to learn but was instead bullied every day. This never
stopped her though, as she stayed after school for hours each
day. After a few months, she became fluent at English. The
moral of this story is to show that anything or anybody who
tried to stop you from doing something is nothing more than a
small hurdle. Next year, I would definitely like to take part in
this experience again!

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MICHAEL JARA wINS

JACK PETCHEY
AwARD!
A huge well done to Michael Jara (11C), who received a Jack
Petchey Award on Thursday 24 May at the Watermans
Theatre in Brentford. The award presented for his coaching
work with the Feltham Warriors basketball team. It is truly
outstanding to see students making an impact in the wider
community; well done to Michael!

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Charity & Community

ISLEWORTH
COMMUNITY
PLAY
Nine students took part in the Isleworth
Community Play this year: Ahmed
Abuelmeaza (11E), Mo Abuelmeaza
(13ALE), Kendall Berryman (9E), Jake
Bowden (9E), Tom Keenan (10F), Aadi
Mudhar (9B), Mubanga Mulenga (10F),
James Pusey (9E) and Rowan Thwaites
(11F). Toms report is below.

The Isleworth Community

Play what a spectacle.
I participated in the 2016 Isleworth
Community Play: Isleworth- the Rock
and Roll Years. It was a play about
Isleworth in the 1950s, featuring
characters based on people from the
era. Mr McDonnell had suggested that I
auditioned for it alongside Mubanga
Mulenga, Aaditya Mudhar and a number
of other students. We all got roles, and

The poster for the play.

somehow, I managed to score the lead.

It was such a fantastic experience as I
was out in the community working with
people I had never met before, and
exploring styles I never used before.
The play relied on physical theatre emphasised use
of the body within
drama - on such a
large scale and
was configured in
the promenade
format, meaning
that the cast freely
moved within the
audience
throughout.

My character was Vince Taylor, a rock

star from the 50s, who grew up in
Isleworth; I was challenged to sing and
dance in front of (and amongst!) the
promenade audience. We did four
shows, all of which were roaring
successes, held in our very own school
hall. I had a fantastic time and would
definitely approach that style of acting
again without hesitation. I feel that I
learned a lot from it which I can apply to
my acting in the future.
The show was directed by Gumley
Schools Madeleine Casey, and the
music was written and performed by
Paul Dalton. The fact that Isleworth &
Syon was at the centre of it all truly
shows the importance of the school
within the community.

James, Tom and Aadi as part of the band (photograph Anna Loveland).

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Wider Learning Week

WIDER LEARNING WEEK

This years Wider Learning Week ran from Monday 4 Friday 8 July for students in Years 7-9 and 12. The purpose of the week is
to provide enriching learning experiences in familiar and new contexts, with activities challenging students and promoting a wider
understanding and independence. It is also to reward students for their hard work during the school year through a series of
interesting and fun activities. Find out how each group got on below.

YEAR 7
Wider Learning Week for Year 7 was a huge success, and it
was delightful to see the students throw themselves into the
week with such gusto! It was clear that the students relished
the chance to break from routine and try something a little
different over the course of the week, which began on Monday
with a special STEM Engineering Challenge. Students were
tasked with making bridges out of only paper and sellotape;
the end result had to be able to support a 1kg weight without
buckling. Students were put into groups and then had to
assign themselves roles within the group a Project Manager,
a Designer, a Finance Manager, and so on. Some students
took to the leadership roles naturally, and it was great to see
such positive team work on display, with the end results
bearing the fruits of this labour.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday were a rotation across three
activities with form groups taking one each day. The science
department organised a series of activities under the banner of
Exploration. The highlight for many students was the

Creating their own fitness drills.

Above: Working together to build bridges! and below: The winning group: Ishaaq
Barok, Dan Francis, Gul Khan and Benjamin Rawsthorne.

opportunity to get into the lab, use the Bunsen burners and
make their own energy drinks from scratch with a variety of
ingredients. Students tasted their concoctions once they were
done and there were certainly some tasty beverages that may
put Red Bull out of the market before long! Meanwhile, P.E. and
food technology teamed up for a Health Day Miss Sheth in the
kitchen taught the students some principles of healthy eating
before they created their own healthy dish; Mr Mullins led
students through some fitness drills and then invited the
students to make their own with a variety of apparatus; and Mr
Potter put students through some paces with some volleyball,
and also taught them a series of fitness exercises involving only
a chair! The final activity was a trip to Osterley Park, organised
by MFL. Students went searching for a variety of different
critters, practicing their language skills at the same time.
On Thursday, students broke from the rotation for a day
organised by business studies titled Dragons Den. With the
format based on the hit BBC television programme, students
were tasked with designing a new piece of wearable
technology. Again, students were assigned roles within each
project team and quickly got to work developing their idea,
before pitching it to their peers before lunch. There were some
truly imaginative ideas, including interactive glasses and
watches. The six best pitches (one from each form) progressed
to the Grand Final, and had to pitch their ideas to the Dragons:
Miss Higginbottom, Miss Ludhra and Miss Simms. It was
almost too tough to call a winner, but eventually the Dragons
decided that 7As pitch was the best due to its potential realworld applications. Well done to all the boys involved!

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Wider Learning Week

YEAR 8
Over the course of the week, Year 8 took part in a series of
interesting curriculum-based activities on rotation. Each of
these activities offered students something different, and
feedback afterwards was overwhelmingly positive regarding
the variety on display.
Miss Lawler took groups of students to Thorpe Park in Surrey,
to investigate the geography and physics of theme parks!
Students particularly enjoyed thrill-seeking rollercoasters like
Colossus and Nemesis Inferno, and lots of discussions were
had in terms of how these rollercoasters work with concepts
such as gravity and g force. The business department
organised a marble challenge (see below), whereby students
were tasked with making a rollercoaster out of paper and tape
this rollercoaster had to hold a marble for longer than six
seconds. This was a lot more difficult than it sounds, but it was
fun to see students getting to grips with the problem and
working as a team to figure it out.

Students built a full working remote-control car.

On Thursday, students took part in an Engineering Challenge

led by the design & technology department. The boys worked
as a team to produce remote control cars (see above) with an
actual electronic component! Once again, the emphasis was
on teamwork, and the boys worked very well together to
produce a stable end result. The week ended with a zoothemed rotation, with students spending time in different
department across the school completing animal-themed
activities. The highlight was probably sciences Zoo Lab, with
students able to see and touch a series of critters including a
millipede, a tarantula and a snake. The look on some of the
boys faces was a picture (as you can see below), but they
clearly enjoying seeing the creatures first-hand! It was a great
end to a special week which firmly took the boys out of their
comfort zones.

Will the marble stay in?

Miss Qadeer and Miss Shukla organised a Political

Understanding day that was particularly pertinent this year as
it came hot on the heels of the EU referendum result. Students
were taught about democracy in the UK, as well as the
different electoral systems in this country and in the United
States. Students learned about the political parties and their
values, which stood them in good stead for their main task of
the day: creating their own political parties. Students were
asked to come up with a series of manifesto pledges what
they would change in school if they were elected and then
had to pitch them at the end of the day in room 100. Students
voted for their favourite by placing a card in a ballot box. It was
great to see so many measured arguments on display from the
students!

The boys were entranced by the critters.

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Wider Learning Week

YEAR 9
Students in Year 9 were allowed to choose their own activity
from a series of options. Please see below for a brief summary
of each.

BEING AN ARCHITECT
Students selecting the architecture week had a fantastic time
visiting various London sites. This included the Royal Institute
of Architects (RIBA) on Monday, where they took part in a
variety of fascinating talks and sessions. In school, students
learned more about the architectural process, and were taught
how to use computer software to design their own architectural
project. Some of the end results produced by the students
were simply fantastic, a credit to the hard work displayed by
the boys.
Sports Week students at the Olympic Park.

SPORTS WEEK

COMPUTING
Our computing students took a trip to the Sky Academy Skills
Studio, where they took a tour of Sky News and even filmed
their own news report complete with Sky News graphics! In
school, students used specialist software to design a game
from scratch; at the end of the week, they used the Xbox to
play their games on the big screen. Ms Stroude reported that
she was delighted with the boys work ethic during the week.

Mr Devlin led the sports boys on a week of high-octane and

thrilling activities, including the opportunity to dive at the
Olympic park and cycle in the Olympic velodrome in London.
Students also enjoyed beach volleyball and practicing their flips
on the trampoline during the week, which was very rewarding!

DUKE OF EDINBURGHS BRONZE AWARD

Students participated in the DofE Bronze award spent the
week preparing for their expedition, which took place on the
Wednesday and Thursday. For more details, check out the
DofE article later in this publication.

FILM-MAKING
Mr McDonnell and Mr Milligan organised a fantastic filmmaking week, which involved visits to the Sky Television
Studios and to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in Watford both
visits were an introduction for students to some of the ideas
involved in making a film. For the rest of week, students were
given the equipment to produce their own short three-minute
film on a subject of their choosing. The week ended with a
screening of the films, and the boys did a fantastic (and very
professional-looking) job.

FISHING
The fishing week was organised by Mr Fisher and,
accompanied by Mr Archer, he took students to five
different lakes across the week. Students received
expert tuition and guidance on how to get the best
catches. The catch of the week no doubt belonged
to William Blades (9F) everyone was shocked at
just how huge the fish was! Well done to all the boys
for their conduct during this exciting week.

Mr McAlinden teaches Spencer Hussein (9E) how to make a perfect fire.

SURVIVAL SKILLS
Mr McAlinden and Mr Nowicki led the survival week, with
students taught a variety of tactics to survive in the wild. This
included orienteering, shelter building, fire lighting and a
number of other team-based
activities. Students appreciated
the opportunity to get stuck in
and learn some vital new skills.
Well done to all of the Year 9s
for their hard work during the
week!

Catch of the day by William Blades (9F).

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Wider Learning Week

YEAR 12
Year 12 had a great Wider Learning Week, with activities
focusing on what comes next for the students. We were
delighted to welcome back former The Apprentice contestant
Bianca Miller to talk to the students about personal branding.
She explained about the importance of presenting yourself
well during interviews, and knowing your brand what sets
you apart from the crowd. There were a number of visiting
speakers during Tuesday, helping students to understand the
process of applying to university, from picking your course to
getting the most out of open days to going through the student
finance process.
Students were also given expert advice and guidance when it
comes to writing their CVs and personal statements which
will no doubt come in useful in coming years! The week ended
with a visit to the University of West London in Brentford, with
students taking a campus tour and then being involved with a
variety of talks and games to educate them about life at
university. All in all, the week gave the students plenty of food
for thought as they consider their next steps.

We were thrilled to welcome back Bianca Miller.

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THESCHOOL

The PGL Trip was certainly a muddy experience for the boys.

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YEAR 7 PGL
An integral part of our transition process for
the new Year 7s is the PGL trip to Marchants
Hill, near Hindhead. This trip has been running
for over ten years and is a fantastic way for the
Year 7 students to make new friends and get
to know not only their peers but also their form
tutors and other members of the pastoral
support team. So, on Monday 5 October, over
a hundred students set off for an amazing
three days full to the brim with activities!
Over the course of the three-day excursion,
students were regularly taken out of their
comfort zone through a series of thrilling
activities. There was some incredible sharpshooting in the archery, while students
reached great heights in the climbing,
abseiling and zip wire activities! As always,
the boys particularly enjoyed the Challenge
Course, getting thoroughly filthy as they
crawled through the (very muddy) obstacle
course.
All of this thrill-seeking meant that mealtime
was eagerly-anticipated, and students enjoyed
three hearty meals a day to give them that
extra push for the days activities! The reports
from staff were overwhelmingly positive upon
the students return, commenting that student
behaviour was exemplary throughout. Well
done to all of the students, and to all of the
staff who helped to make this trip such a
massive success.

The boys were able to zipline over the water.

The obstacle course was particularly challenging in the torrential rainfall.

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The School

All the form tutors went along too, allowing the boys to get to know them better.

Josiah Wilson-Kepple takes aim!

Some budding Robin Hoods in action!

Students bonded with their peers and formed lasting friendship groups.

Students spent some time on the shooting range!

Lining up the shot carefully!

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The School

Two Tour Boys, Sevak Sohi and Ayyub

Suggulle, were our excellent guides so
that we could visit any part of the school
and not get lost. They were very
interesting to talk to.

The former students outside the school which they

attended from 1952 - 1957.

CLASS OF 52
REUNION
On Friday 9 October, it was our pleasure
to welcome several of the Class of 52 to
the school for a visit. We asked Roy
Marshall, one of the ex-students, to write
a piece on the experience of coming
back to the school nearly sixty years
after he had left.
Returning to a place you thought youd
left forever can be a strange experience.
It was 1959 when I was 18 and left
school! Imagine, someone in the present
Sixth Form returning in 2071 so what
might he expect to see? A vast glass
dome covering the entire site perhaps?
Or a 20-storey tower block? In reality,
one of the endearing qualities of this
country seems to be how little really
changes over time. So, in our day, 19521959, for pupils (students) to enter the
school by the front door was only for
morning late-comers in my experience
and after daily assembly in the Hall had
begun. One would be greeted by Mr
Soloman Inman, Senior Master in care
of lates, and invited to explain the
reason for not being on-time.
Your Grandmother appears to have
died 3 times since Christmas! So how do
you explain that, Shay? I heard Solly
Inman ask one morning of a boy in the
year above me. Mr Inman obviously on
top sleuthing form that morning and
consulting his list of excuses archived
against individual names. Shay got a
Saturday morning detention for that little
porky as I remember!
Well, whilst I suspect the students still
do not usually enter by the front door, I
know that the punishment system at
least will have changed! So it was sort of
a treat to be able to enter the school by
the Staff entrance and it got better. We
were expected and welcomed on
reception and given badges so that we
wouldnt be confused with the pupils!

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Amazing to think that the last time I saw

some of the guys who turned up to the
reunion was over half a century ago
wow! And yet, under the aged exterior
(which for all of us has substantially
changed of course) was the personality.
Changed? Yes, but still recognisable
and for many of us we just picked up
where we had left off.
The Hall is almost as it was although the
canteen has gone from under the
balcony and been replaced by the
Honours Board a good decision,
remembering the cabbage and custard
they used to serve (no, not together, but
the food was not good!) Instead, the
school has a separate impressive facility
with a chef and food in variety available
from 8.00am until well after school has
finished. Nowadays breakfast is
available if required, and interesting
buns and stuff after school. This is
because for some the school day is
extended both before and after normal
hours. Times do change, of course, and
so do our needs the air-raid shelters
have gone and in their place a
recreation area with outdoor table-tennis
tables excellent!
The original 1938 building has stood the
test of time and even now influences the
character of the entire building since
additions have been cleverly
incorporated in a sympathetic style.

The ex-students search for themselves in an old

school photograph, on display in the main corridor.

The Main corridor outside the Hall had

some interesting Year Group
photographs and yes, there was ours
photographed in 1956, which amused us
greatly. Other visuals showed how the
school had developed originally from a
1630 foundation of Dame Elizabeth Hills
Charity School (for girls rather ironically)
and that Alumni include Owais Shah
and Mo Farah.

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The wonderful parquet flooring in the

old school looks as good as it did over
half a century ago as does the flooring in
the gym although all the wall-bars, ropes
and beams, benches and vaulting boxes
have been removed; so no pirates (a
rather risky but enjoyable tag game)
now then. And, no Basketball backboards!! But then we were shown into
the large new Games Hall and there was
the equipment for Basketball and many
other activities besides a wonderful
facility. So things have greatly improved
and that became clear as we progressed
through the new facilities for music,
science, drama and IT the room newlyequipped for music composition is
particularly impressive but then so was
the Jazz orchestra who played for us. As
we looked in to the chemistry lab
something interesting was being
explored but we didnt see the outcome
(usually smelly so no loss there!)
Something equally interesting seemed
to be going-on in the Sixth Form Room
well it was the end of the school day!
However, the staff room (where the
cloakrooms used to be I think!) was
absolutely empty! So we presume that
all staff were gainfully employed about
the building!
Wed made contact with the
Headteacher Euan Ferguson earlier in
our visit but we finally met up with him in
the Library (now several times its
original size!) where he spent a good
half-hour with us although it may have
been something to do with the tray of
cakes (made on the premises), tea and
coffee with which we were entertained.
In truth, the Head was very generous
with his time and we had many of our
questions answered and the aspirations
explained for the next stage in the
development of the school. The library
was at our disposal until 6.00pm when
we were expecting to go to the
Isleworthians Clubhouse in Wood Lane
for a reunion dinner.
On behalf of the group I should like to
thank Euan Ferguson and all concerned
for the opportunity to re-visit the school
and see what an interesting and
stimulating experience awaits young
people today.
I would also like to point out that I was
not late!

Roy Slim Marshall

5 November 2015

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A COUPLE OF
DOWN AND OUTS
To coincide with the Remembrance Day commemorations on
Wednesday 11 November, the school hosted a special
screening of the silent film A Couple of Down and Outs. Set in
war-time, this silent film was shot in Isleworth in 1924. This
particular version contains a contemporary soundtrack,
entirely composed, performed and recorded by Year 13
student Louis Rugg.

Henry Rathore (8C) and Alec Brundle (9A) place a wreath at the Borough Road
memorial.

REMEMBRANCE
COMMEMORATIONS

The event was hosted by local historian Ed Harris, author of

Britains Forgotten Film Factory: The Story of Isleworth
Studios. The film itself was an absolute delight, and it is
absolutely necessary to give special praise to Louis, whose
soundtrack was absolutely outstanding, really evoking the time
period. It was also great to see a good turnout from
parents/carers and visitors; thank you to everyone who came
along to share in this special event.

For this years Remembrance Commemorations, the school

took part in a number of events. On Remembrance Sunday, Mr
Fisher and Ms Squires accompanied twenty students as they
represented Isleworth & Syon at the Isleworth 390 event. Each
student wore a sash with the name of one of the 390 Isleworth
residents who lost their lives during World War I. The boys
displayed impeccable conduct throughout, as they went on a
parade around Isleworth and its environs.
On Armistice Day itself, Wednesday 11 November, an
assembly was held for each year group in the school hall. A
number of students from across the school gave short
speeches or read poetry; then, a wreath was placed at the base
of the school memorial, located at the back of the school hall.
As the clock hit 11.00am, a minutes silence was held in school.
Mr Ferguson and Mr Kettle took a small group of selected
students to the local Borough Road memorial, which honours
the students and staff of the old Borough College (which was
located opposite the school) that died in the War. Students
took an active part in the short service with a series of reading,
while Zack Taylor (11C) gave a note-perfect rendition of The
Last Post. It was an honour to be involved in this moving
ceremony along with a number of local schools and residents.

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A close-up of the school's wreath, which honours the eighty-one old boys who
died during World War I.

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2015 SCIENCE
RESULTS IN
COUNTRYS TOP 10% FOR THE FOURTH
YEAR RUNNING!
In December, we received the first draft of data from the
Department for Education (DfE) that confirmed some truly
outstanding performances from last summers GCSE
examinations. We were particularly delighted to note that
overall figures demonstrate clearly that our boys continue to
significantly out perform all students nationally and
comfortably out-perform boys nationally. Indeed, across the
majority of categories measured the boys are performing at a
level that is significantly higher than national benchmarks.
One of our great successes was in the sciences, where the
outstanding performances were maintained. Students and staff
have seen their progress measures graded by the DfE as
being in the top 4% of all results nationally. This is truly a
remarkable result the fourth year running that the results
have placed in the top 10%.
We were also thrilled to see significant improvements in the
humanities. This years results for geography and history have
moved to being in the top 15% of schools nationally. If this
measure were to be graded against boys only, the score would
be even more impressive.

QUIZ & CURRY NIGHT

The Isleworth Association (P.T.A.) gives parents/carers an
opportunity to have a voice within the school, with meetings
taking place every half term. The Association also runs several
social events over the course of the year, with the main one
being the Quiz Night. This year, the event took place on Friday
20 November.
The evening was a great success, with over a hundred
students, parents/carers and staff forming teams. At the
midway point in the quiz, a delicious CucinA curry was served
to attendees this was definitely needed, as the quiz, designed
by Senior Laboratory Technician Mrs Robertson, was
fiendishly difficult! The winning team was composed entirely of
staff, and they absolutely romped to victory by over thirty
points!

Above: A student receives his award from Mr Murrell and bottom: Lots of
medals and certificates on offer!

YEAR 7 INDUCTION
ASSEMBLY
The Year 7 transition process began all the way in March 2015,
and culminated with the traditional Induction Assembly on
Friday 11 December. Parents/carers were invited to this event,
which celebrated the boys first term at Isleworth & Syon.
A representative from each form group gave a short speech
about their first three months at the school, and it was great to
hear their insight. Many funny stories and anecdotes were told,
many of which came from the PGL excursion in October! The
boys commented on the friendships they had built since
starting at school, and many thanked the staff for their ongoing
contributions. Then, each student was given a bronze, silver or
gold medal denoting their current progress. It was truly lovely
to see a lot of students wearing their medals with pride not just
for the assembly but for the rest of the day!
Well done to all of our Year 7 students for making such a great
start to life as Isleworth & Syon boys.

In all, it was a fantastic evening. Profits stand at just under

550, funds that will be used to support educational projects at
school. The 2016 event is scheduled for Friday 18 November,
with everyone welcome!

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SUMMER SCHOOL
In the last two weeks before the start of the Autumn Term, we
once again ran a Summer School for targeted students in
Years 7 and 8. Mr Fisher once again organised the scheme,
which is a great way for students to get to know each other
and form friendship groups before term begins.
The first week was on-site, focusing primarily on sport while
bringing in literacy and numeracy introducing students to
concepts that are a main focus at Isleworth & Syon. For the
second week, the students concentrated on drama and
science, heading out-and-about for various activities, including
the Hounslow Urban Zoo, a mini-beast hunt around Osterley
Park, and various investigations of ecosystems in the local
environment.
Students received a free pencil case and a free book, as well
as an introduction to the Accelerated Reader programme. The
week culminated in a barbecue at Thistleworth Tennis Club
which was well-attended by students and their families. This
two-week activity really did act as a springboard for the
students, to allow them to hit the ground running in September.
Some of the parent/carer feedback is included right. A huge
thank you to Mr Fisher for organising the event, to the teaching
staff who gave their time, and to the Sixth Form students who
helped out.

My son got a chance to explore the activities which are

available at school. He really enjoyed seeing the animals at
Osterley Park. I feel he has a lot of confidence now and
has come out of his shell.

It was very helpful, my son was happy, he made a lot of

progress and he made new friends.

It provided my son with the opportunity to familiarise

himself with the new environment and build new
friendships. The structure helped to get him back into a
good routine and has built his confidence.

My child came home every day with a smile on his face.

My son built friendships with other children and got to

know his way around the school. He enjoyed all activities
and was very excited to tell me about it.

A unique opportunity for these children many thanks!

Right: Experiments in science.

Below: Students had a great time handling several
different animals courtesy of 'The Tropical Zoo'.

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SKI TRIP 2016

During the Easter Holidays (Saturday 26 March Saturday
2 April), Miss Lawler once again organised a ski trip.
Although the cohort was smaller than the previous years,
there was a real sense of community amongst the twenty
boys that braved the icy winds on the Austrian slopes. The
group stayed in Zillertal and took advantage of some
absolutely outstanding facilities during the week.

Above: The entire group after a successful week.

Below: Some tired boys after a particularly arduous day!

Several of the cohort had never skied before, and yet

everyone threw themselves into the activities with gusto.
The boys did really well in some pretty challenging
conditions, with all earning a ski level award at the end of
the week. All members of staff were very impressed with
the level of commitment on show from the boys, in spite of
the various bumps and bruises picked up along the way!
Each day was devoted to time on the slopes, with the
evenings spent taking part in a number of fun activities.
Students took part in a disco at an actual (underage)
nightclub, as well as bowling at a modern centre which was
competition-standard. The bowling alley was decorated
with fires and furs and had a really nice atmosphere not
the boys paid much attention to that, as they were too busy
being competitive and trying to win! A particular favourite
was the Tyrolean evening, where students got a slice of
Austrian culture, including log-cutting!
As always, the trip had to come to an end way too soon, but
the boys were left with memories of an amazing adventure.
The school is already formalising plans for next years trips
stay tuned to the schools website for more details.
Search #IsleworthSki on Twitter to read some of our tweets
from the slopes, which give some further details about just
some of the highlights from the trip.

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Log-cutting during the

Tyrolean evening.

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VALENTINES DISCO
We were delighted with such a great turnout for this years
Valentines Disco, which took place on Thursday 11 February.
This event gives students in Years 7-9 a chance to let their
hair down, as we once again teamed up for the Green School
for this very successful event. Over 200 boys and girls
attended in total, and the energy (and noise!) levels in the hall
were raised to the maximum! As is customary, the evening
began with the girls on one side of the hall and the boys at the
other, but eventually the shyness gave way to exuberance as
the tunes got going! Everyone present had an absolutely
fantastic time, and the behaviour was exemplary. There were
even a few telephone numbers exchanged by the end!

YEAR 7 & 8 ONLINE SAFETY EVENING

The Isleworth Association (PTA) puts on a number of
educational events for parents/carers over the course of the
school year. On Tuesday 26 January, the latest of these was
the Online Safety Evening, open to students and
parents/carers in Years 7 and 8. The event was hosted by our
designated Safer Schools Police Officers PC Beal and PC
Weston, and was well-attended.

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Those present were given very important information about

keeping children safe online, with plenty of hints and tips with
how to deal with pressing concerns about websites and social
media usage. It was an extremely worthwhile evening, and our
thanks to everyone who attended.

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Above: Throwing some shapes on the dancefloor.

Below left: Andrew Kakeeto - Prom King.
Below right: Harlequins was a fantastic venue!

YEAR 11 PROM
After a very long and arduous seven weeks of examinations, it was all over
for Year 11 on the week of 20 June. That meant only one thing it was time
to let their hair down, which they promptly did at the Year 11 Prom on Friday
24 June, at Harlequins RFC, Twickenham. This is always a fantastic event,
as the Year 11s say a proper goodbye not just to each other but also to the
many staff in attendance. The boys were joined also by girls from Brentford
School and the Green School, and there was a real party atmosphere
throughout the packed room!
There was plenty of (over-)exuberant dancing on display from the excited
students, to some disco classics and some modern chart hits as well. Lots of
awards were given out too in a variety of categories including Best Dressed
and Best Dancer. The top award, though, is the Prom King, and this years
recipient was a delighted Andrew Kakeeto (11E) resplendent in an all-white
suit and pink tie. A huge thank you to every student that came along to
celebrate their time at Isleworth & Syon in style!

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YEAR 10 UNDERTAKE
TWO WEEKS WORK
EXPERIENCE
One of the formative experiences for our Year 10 students
each year is to opportunity to undertake two weeks of Work
Experience from Monday 4 Friday 15 July. Students are
encouraged during the Autumn Term to find their own
placements in a sector that interests them. Off the students
went with considerable nerves in the end! We are pleased to
say that the boys have equipped themselves very well to this
first experience of the world of work, and many employers
have been effusive with their praise. Some have even
commented that they wished they could keep them once the
placement was over! Our sincere thanks to the students for
their hard work, and to the businesses themselves for being so
welcoming and accommodating to the students.

FAREWELL, YEAR 11!

After five years of compulsory education, Friday 27 May was
the beginning of the end for Year 11, as they had their final
formal assembly with Mr Lightfoot in the hall. Over the course
of their five years, there have certainly been some bumps in
the road, but it was truly great to hear their memories,
recounted by representatives from each form. Mr Lightfoot
also read out some memories from staff with many of the
students wishing that those (embarrassing) accounts had
stayed hidden!

Casting their vote!

STUDENTS VOTE
REMAIN IN SCHOOL
EU REFERENDUM
Thursday 23 June was one of the most important days in the
UK political history, as votes were cast across the country in
the referendum to decide whether the United Kingdom should
leave the European Union. During that week, the House
Leaders organised a series of activities for students during
form time, giving them the platform to discuss the many
complex issues involved in making this decision. Our debaters
also took over one of the house assemblies and had an
informed debate about some of the issues at hand.

Following the pastoral and academic awards, Mr Lightfoot

concluded with a fantastic speech entitled Life from the Point
of View of a Gamer, which used the prism of video games to
give Year 11 some meaningful life advice. We wish all of our
Year 11 the very best in whatever comes next be that our
own Sixth Form, college, or the world of work.

On the day itself, students were given the opportunity have

their say and cast their own ballot in our in-school referendum,
with the Sixth Form Study Room transformed into our polling
station for the day. The turnout was truly outstanding, and it
was an absolute pleasure to see so many people engaging in
an issue of this magnitude. The results of the ballot were very
interesting, with a massive 62% of students voting to Remain
in the EU. Thank you to every student who respected the
parliamentary process and had their say.

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SIXTH FORM STUDENTS VISIT THE WW1 BATTLEFIELDS

BY GEORGE BRIDGEWATER (13JST)
The week before October half-term, Miss Qadeer, Emilio Titus
and I left London bound for Ypres (Belgium) and the
Battlefields of the Somme (in France). What we learnt was the
importance of remembering the individuals that lost their lives
in battle for their country and their individual stories.
During the trip, I also found the grave of my Great-Great
Grandfather, Captain Clement Bridgewater. I learned that he
volunteered for service with the cavalry in 1916 and
commanded a battalion of the Inniskilling Fusiliers during the
battle of the Somme and the Battle of Cambria. I found out that
he was buried in Cambria following his death. He died leading
the charge into the German frontline on horseback; the
Germans had left tripwires along no-mans land crippling the
horses before facing large German artillery attacks. A survivor
of the charge spoke of Captain Bridgewaters body entangled
in the wires, where he died along with his horse. I found this
personally harrowing, finding out about this member of my
family and his story in the war.

SAFE DRIVE,
STAY ALIVE
On Tuesday 6 October, our entire Year
12 cohort took a coach to the Questors
Theatre, Ealing, for the Safe Drive, Stay
Alive event. As the title suggests, this
sobering event focuses on road safety,
with several schools from the London
area invited. The event travels around
the country, speaking to young people
about the importance of staying safe
while driving, and the terrible
consequences of not doing so. The

We remember every man and woman who died in the events

of the First World War through memorials and assemblies but
across Europe they are remembered with events such as the
daily Menin Gate Memorial service and the several hundred
military cemeteries dedicated to remembering the people
behind the war. I feel it is part of our generations duty to also
contribute to the remembrance of those who lost their lives. I
had the immense privilege of taking part in the Coming World
Remember Me programme. They have been working on this
remembrance instillation in No-Mans land around Ypres, since
2014 with Artist Koen Vanmechelen (much like the poppies at
the tower of London). Emilio and I were lucky enough to each
craft a small clay figure each that will represent one of the
600,000 soldiers who died in Belgium and will be engraved
with our names and a soldiers name. This project is what
remembrance is all about - drawing attention to the past and
allowing us to remember the people that gave their lives so
that we can live the way we do today.

event started in a light-hearted manner,

with a few games to relax the audience.
However, this atmosphere was quickly
punctured when the compere informed
the audience that within the first two
years of passing their driving test, one in
five people crash.
For the rest of the event, students
listened to a series of very hard-hitting
talks from people that had been directly
involved in some horrific road traffic
collisions. These included members of
the London Ambulance Service, the Fire
Brigade, and the Metropolitan Police,
who all shared their experiences as

responders to the
scenes of serious
accidents. The
imagery that
they used was
extremely
evocative, and
students were
suitably stunned at some
of the incidents. There was a hush over
the group as they left the theatre, silently
reflecting on the harrowing tales that
they had heard. It certainly gave them
plenty of food for thought as they
consider learning to drive.

A-LEVEL ENGLISH LITERATURE STUDY TRIPS

As part of their A-Level English Literature studies, students are
required to go beyond the text and consider a number of
different elements, including the context in which it was
written, the use of language to convey imagery, and the
themes of the novel. To that end, the English department
organised a number of trips to help them to do this.
The first took place on Saturday 17 February 2016, as the
small group (made up of students from Years 12 and 13) were
invited to Londons Southbank for a study day with authors
Kazuo Ishiguro and David Mitchell. Ishiguros The Remains of
the Day is one of the set texts for the examination, and
students learned a lot during the day. Both authors talked a lot
about the process of writing, which the group found

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fascinating. Ishiguro also made several comments about The

Remains of the Day specifically, which was a huge help to
students as they prepared for their summer examinations.
Three weeks later, the Year 12 students went to a Sovereign
Education A-Level Study Day, which took place at City
Temple, Holborn Viaduct. The subject this time was
Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire, another of
the examination set texts. Students listened to a number of
talks from university lectures, discussing various aspects of
the novel including masculinity, the tragic genre, and the
historical and social context. The group were engaged
throughout, and the day clearly served them well considering
the standard of the summer examination results.

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SIXTH FORM
WINTER BALL
After a very busy Autumn Term, Sixth
Form students let their hair down in their
own inimitable style, with their
Christmas Ball on Thursday 10
December. Held at the local Harlequins
FC rugby ground, the event brought
together students from Isleworth &
Syon, Brentford School and the Green
School for a fantastic evening!
A student DJ was on hand to mix the
tunes, with a heavy Caribbean theme to
the music that delighted the assembled
crowd. The Year 12s and Year 13s
grabbed the opportunity to put on their
dancing shoes, with several dance-offs
taking place over the course of the
evening. Unfortunately, as with all events
of this nature, it ended too soon but
everyone left with a great feeling of
satisfaction after a great evening of
socialising and over-exuberant dancing.
Our thanks to Miss Tyreman, who coordinated the event, and Deputy Head
Boy Ali Eta (13TBI), who was
instrumental in pulling the event together.

OXBRIDGE
PREPARATION
DAY
This year, we have had several students
who applied either to an Oxbridge (Oxford
or Cambridge) university or medical
school for September 2016. To that end,
we were delighted to be invited to an
Oxbridge Preparation Day on Tuesday 17
November. Miss Tyreman accompanied
nine Year 13 students to the event, which
took place at the JFS School in Harrow.
During the day, students took part in a
wide range of activities, many of which
focused on the interview process for
these prestigious and highly-selective
institutions. The most grueling part of the
day, according to the students, was the
mock interviews section, where students
were put through their paces in two 30minute subject-specific interviews with
recent Oxbridge graduates. Although
really quite nerve-wracking, the students
gave a great account of themselves
during this highly-rewarding day, which
gave them an insight into the challenges
that they would face during the
application process.

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FORMULA 1
LECTURE
We feel that it is important for our Sixth
Form students to experience the lecture
environment during their time in Years 12
and 13, to give them a small idea of what
university life could be like. To that end, a
small group of Gifted & Talented
mathematics students visited Royal
Holloway, University of London on the
evening of Wednesday 4 November.
The talk was titled Chess at 200mph: The
Game of Formula 1 Strategy, and was led
by Gareth Griffith, a feature film and major
sports software specialist. Gareths
software has been used in over 500 films,
including the Lord of the Rings trilogy and
Steven Spielbergs classic Jurassic Park.
The lecture itself focused on the
mathematical techniques behind race
strategy at the Mercedes-Benz Formula 1
team, and was a very rewarding
experience for the nine boys who
attended. It was designed to bridge the
gap between A-Level and university
teaching, and left the Year 12 students
with plenty to ponder as they consider their
next steps.

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TOM SHERRIFF
EARNS
APPRENTICESHIP
AT SKY SPORTS
In May, we were absolutely thrilled to
hear that Tom Sherriff (Year 13) has
gained a place on a highly-prestigious
Sky Sports internship for September
2016.
The Fast Forward scheme offers
participants the chance to gain
valuable working experience for a
year in Sky Sports, working across a
variety of shows such as Sky Sports
News, Monday Night Football, and
other sporting events. It was highly
selective, with only one person picked
from thousands of applications, and
included an intense four-stage
application progress. The scheme will
offer Tom the chance to experience a
number of different aspects such as
sound, script-writing, logging and
editing. We wish him well.

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IMPROVEMENT STRATEGIES
School leaders know the strengths and areas for development
in the Sixth Form very well. Self-evaluation is accurate and key
areas for development are being addressed.
Staff and leaders are very committed to the students, to
improving outcomes and to helping students to move on to the
appropriate next stage in their education, employment or
training. They give freely of their time and skills to offer
individual support and guidance.
The ethos of the school promotes inclusion and equality of
opportunity. Students with differing needs feel well supported.
Girls are made to feel very welcome in the school.

SIXTH FORM SCORES

WELL IN CHALLENGE
PARTNERS REVIEW
Towards the end of January, we welcomed a review team from
Challenge Partners for an annual health check on the quality of
the school. This year, the focus was on the Sixth Form. Led by a
qualified and active Ofsted inspector, the review team spent two
days in school looking at all aspects of our post-16 provision.

OUTCOMES FOR STUDENTS

53% of students achieved A*B grades, 99% of students
achieved A*-E. The target for A*B in 2016 is 59%.
Subjects with strong value added in 2015 according to ALPS
were: art, biology, chemistry, English literature, ICT, physical
education, physics and sociology.
The school exceeded its target of 75% A*-D at AS level with
81% achieving these grades. This shows good improvement.
91% achieved A*-E.

The team looked at three aspects of the Sixth Form:

improvement strategies; student outcomes and the quality of
teaching; and learning and assessment. We are especially
pleased that the team validated our own judgement of the
provision, as being a really good Sixth Form. Many positive
areas were highlighted in the report along with some
suggestions for improvement.

Science subjects are a particular strength of the school and

are very oversubscribed.

The full report is available to read via the school website, while
you can view a selection of comments to the right.

Students following vocational courses made excellent

progress.

QUALITY OF TEACHING, LEARNING AND

ASSESSMENT

PiXL CELEBRATION
We were delighted when two Sixth Form students Adam
Louelhi (12ALE) and Nabil Malki (12RON) were invited to the
PiXL Student Celebration Event, which took place in London
on Wednesday 23 September.

There are very positive relationships between students and

between students and staff.
The school provides a secure and supportive environment
where all can learn and achieve.

PiXL (Partners in Excellence) is an organization that works

with over a thousand secondary school across the country,
with a focus on raising standards of achievement at GCSE.
This event was hosted to celebrate students who achieved
well at GCSE, in spite of perhaps not having the best results to
build on. Adam and Nabil both overcame specific obstacles to
earn a number of outstanding GCSE results.
The main guest at the event was Levi Roots, former contestant
on Dragons Den and creator of the popular Reggae Reggae
Sauce. There were also a number of other presentations and
performances during the afternoon, which culminated in both
boys taking part in the award ceremony. A huge well done to
Adam and Nabil we hope that this event encourages them to
keep pushing on as they progress into Key Stage 5!

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There are a wide range of enrichment opportunities available,

and good opportunities to develop leadership.

Teachers plan their lessons carefully with a variety of

activities. They have strong subject knowledge and an
enthusiasm which motivates and engages the students so that
they enjoy their learning. Assessment data is well used in
planning.
Attitudes to learning are excellent. Many students are
developing good independent learning skills.

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Sixth Form

AUSCHWITZ

On Thursday 4 February, Miss Cox took Gus Fontaine

(12ANO) and Danyal Naidu (12JST) to Auschwitz as a means
of illuminating their A-Level History studies. Here is Danyals
report (contains evocative imagery).

As soon as we entered Krakow, the bleakness of its

surroundings set the tone of the visit. We were on our way to
the infamous concentration camps Auschwitz and Auschwitz
Birkenau. Hours later, we entered Auschwitz I and the
immediate feeling of distress and uneasiness filtered through
my body. How else would you feel if you were standing metres
outside a camp where 1.2 million people were innocently
massacred? Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Sets You Free) was
written above our heads and it was at that point that I knew
history stood before us.
We took a detailed and emotional tour around Auschwitz I, with
the tour ranging from the selection process all the way to the
methods used to kill innocent people. It is extremely difficult to
explain the emotions that ran through me but I will try my best.
We entered many rooms but a certain number of rooms caused
my eyes to widen. One room was The Selection Process. We
were explained the process in which mothers would never see
their beloved children ever again or feel the soft touch of their
husbands as they were to be separated for good. Women, the
elderly, children and the sick were ordered to the left whilst the
fit men were forced to the right. When we were told this a
surge of guilt, wretchedness and anger rose through me.
Couldnt anyone save them?! It caused me to think about how
much we take for granted as a generation.
Throughout the corridors, pictures of the deceased filled the
walls. A man called Jozef Jankowski caught my eye. Jozef was
deported into Auschwitz on 29 May 1941 and was exterminated
on the 16th October 1941. He survived only five months in the

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camp before his

life was
snatched away
from him
millions of lives
were. We later visited the infamous Gas Chambers and it was
the part of the trip where I felt both excited and anxious. As I
entered the chamber, I looked immediately at the walls and saw
nail scratchings. It was the Jews who were crying out for mercy
for someone to save them. The Chambers were monotonous
and depressing and made me feel small and helpless. I couldnt
imagine how 2000 Jews at a time felt crammed into a cold
chamber complete with nothing but darkness. This was, in fact,
my worst experience whilst at the camps.
I had the privilege and the once-in-the lifetime opportunity to
visit Auschwitz I and Birkenau. It was an amazing experience to
witness these events first-hand, and has really educated me
when learning about the Holocaust. We had specialists who
guided us every step of the way and answered all of our
questions when needed. This trip has really made me open my
eyes about events that may have happened over 70 years ago,
but will live with us forever. The most important thing I have
learned is that hatred and racism over a certain race or
ethnicity is futile. We were all born human beings and we will all
die human beings. Unfortunately, the Jewish people were
victims of a repulsive crime committed by one man whose
ideologies caused unforgettable moments. In addition, I have
also learned the development of the Holocaust and how it
wasnt only the Nazis who carried out these awful actions but
the other processes involved. It has also developed my
learning on Jewish life before the war and how the Holocaust
caused Jews to act and live differently post-war. Lastly, I would
like to thank the people working at the Holocaust Education
Trust for giving me the opportunity to visit Auschwitz.

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Sixth Form

MEDIC CLUB
Ms Stead has once again run the Medic Club this year,
designed for Year 12 students who have expressed an interest
in studying medicine or a related subject at university. The
club was extremely well-attended this year, with students
throwing themselves into a weekly programme of stimulating
activities.
One particular highlight was the study of opthamology the
science of the eye at Specsavers in Hounslow. The store was
particularly accommodating to the students, inviting them in for
some hands-on medical eye examinations. Students were
shown detailed images of the backs of eyes, and were taught
the signs of possible tumours and cases of diabetes. The boys
then put dye in each others eyes to look for the blind spot. It
was a great afternoon for the boys.
Later in the year, we were lucky enough to be invited to a
Medic Day at the Hunterian Museum, London. This day-long
activity began with a lecture about the life of a doctor, with
students hearing from several medical professionals about
what a typical day is like for them. Students were then taught
the art of suturing, learning two different types of stitch and the
situations in which they would be applied. The boys favourite
part, however, was when they were given the opportunity to
watch three operations on video, accompanied by a doctors
live commentary. The boys watched a triple heart bypass, a
brain tumour extraction and a gastric operation, and it was a
fascinating insight into the practical part of being a doctor.

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Students also took part in a number of dissections!

In school, Ms Stead ran a number of activities building on what

they had learned outside the classroom. A particular highlight
was a visit from Jane Marshall, a speaker from Imperial
College London. Ms Marshall actually sits on the medicine
admissions panel for the university, and so she was able to
give students some outstanding advice regarding personal
statements and the interview process.
Of the previous years cohort, four students have gone on to
study medical courses at university in September 2016. From
this years group, three students have already been inspired to
apply. This is a testament to the hard work from Ms Stead and
the science team.

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SPORT

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Sport

SPORTS TEAMS
Its been another fantastic year of sport for the P.E. department,
with our sport teams going from strength-to-strength over the
course of the year. With each member of staff taking
responsibility for a sport, there has been a sense of cohesion
across the extra-curricular programme that has suited the boys
well. When that is added to the outstanding level of
commitment from the students, you have a recipe for success.
The biggest success has come from cricket, with consistent
success pretty much across the board. Mr Potter has put on
lots of extra training sessions before school, with boys
sometimes coming in at 7.30am. This clearly paid dividends,
with our Year 7 group not only finishing as comfortable
borough champions but also emerging victorious in the
Middlesex Plate. The Year 8 cohort displayed some very
strong performances throughout the season to be crowned
borough champions; they also narrowly finished runners-up in
the indoor borough tournament and third in the Middlesex 8-aside. Year 10 also competed in an 8-a-side tournament, and
also finished third. We were delighted with the progress of
Year 9 this year; they also won their borough tournament,
crowning a Key Stage 3 clean sweep!
Not to be outdone, Mr Mullins has led the athletics students to
some great successes this year. Year 7 finished the CrossCountry borough tournament as runners up, while Year 10 won
the Super 8s championships by a staggering 98 points! Year 8
also won their borough Super 8s competition, as well as the
Borough Championships, where the 4x100m relay team beat
the school record by a phenomenal 2.5 seconds. Well done to
Eddie Imarayiosa (8B), Morgan Lawrence (8E), Cadell Osborne
(8E) and Josiah Wilson Kepple (8A). Finally, the Year 8 boys
comfortably won the Middlesex Indoor Championships and
were rewarded with a place in the London Youth Games, where
they placed as the sixth best team in the whole of London.

Above: KS3 students putting in the hard graft before school.

Below: Our Year 8 indoor champions.

There were a number of successes across the other sports,

with our Year 8 students placing as runners-up in the borough
KS3 table tennis tournament. Our Year 7 footballers had a
challenging year but eventually were rewarded with the title of
Borough Champions, while in rugby, both Year 8 and Year 9
won their tournaments at sevens level the Isleworth Cup and
Gunnersbury Plate respectively. We hope that these successes
spur the boys on next year to bigger and better things!

SCHOOL XV 19-48 OLD ISLEWORTHIANS

On Wednesday 16 December, Wood Lane played host to
the annual rugby fixture between a combined Isleworth &
Syon student and staff XV and the Old Boys. This year, the
Old Isleworthians RFC emerged as comfortable winners in
tricky condition.
The game often sees former students taking time away
from work or higher education to catch up with their former
teachers and peers. Entertainment is never in short supply,
with this years match no different. The school XV battled
hard but they were no match for the speed and physicality
of the Old Isleworthians. Well done to all who took part,
and congratulations to the Old Boys for their victory.

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HARRY WILLIAMS:
U-13 BADMINTON
RUNNER-UP!
Badminton continues to go from strength to strength in the
school (see report below) with students thriving under the
tutelage of Miss George. One student, Harry Williams (8E) has
shown immense potential this year, and on the weekend of 12
March, he competed in the U-13 Badminton England bronze
circuit tournament. The event took place in Birmingham, and
we were delighted to learn that Harry finished as the runner-up
overall. Miss George hopes that Harry can push on from this to
even bigger success in the future.
Above: Ayden Davies (Year 12) in action.
Below: A collection of our KS3 and KS4 winners.

BADMINTON ROUND-UP
It has been another very successful team for our Badminton
team, marshalled as always by Miss George. Both our Key
Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 teams narrowly won the borough
round of the National Schools Championships Isleworth &
Syon teams have now been the borough champions for ten
straight years, both at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.
These victories meant that the boys progressed to the West
London Finals, which took place at the Harrow Leisure Centre
on Friday 5 February. The boys played very well indeed, with
both teams extremely unlucky to lose out on a place in the
London final by just a single game. Well done to both teams:

KS3

KS4

Ben Dunham (9D)

Asad Kapadi (9D)
Daanyaal Sheikh (9D)
Harry Williams (8E)

Delaine Bedward (10A)

Gaurav Kharaud (10C)
Navraj Sohal (11A)
Sevak Sohi (10C)

Several of our students have also been involved in the London

Youth Games. The Hounslow team is coached by Miss
George, and 70 students from across the borough took part in
the trials. Sevak Sohi and Ravin Jayasekara (12RON)
performed well enough to be selected for the four-person
team, which is an outstanding achievement especially from
Sevak, considering the rest of the team was made up of Sixth
Form students.
It is great to see our outstanding pedigree for Badminton
continuing. For those looking to get involved, the club runs
from 3.00 5.00pm after school on Mondays and Tuesdays,
with everyone welcome.

HARRY CASE LEADS

ENGLAND OUT AT
THE RUGBY WORLD
CUP
We were delighted to witness Harry Case (11A) as he had the
honour of leading the England Rugby Team out in the opening
match of the Rugby World Cup. Harry, the captain of the
school rugby team, had been selected during the previous
year as a result of his commitment and dedication to rugby in
school.
As a result, Harry was a special guest at the opening match of
the tournament, as England faced Fiji at Twickenham on
Friday 18 September. Harry did the school proud as he
triumphantly carried the flag and sang the national anthem
alongside England captain Chris Robshaw. Congratulations to
Harry for his achievement!

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MO FARAH WINS DOUBLE

OLYMPIC GOLD IN RIO
All in school were extremely proud as former student Mo Farah won his
second double Olympic gold in Rio this August. Mo attended Isleworth
& Syon from 1999-2001, and even at that young age showed a thirst for
long-distance running. It was clear that he was destined for greatness,
and he is now one of the most successful British Olympians of all time.
His performances in the 5,000m and 10,000m events in Rio were
simply breathtaking, pushing past his opponents in such a commanding
fashion that the result was never in doubt. He won each race by a clear
margin, with many now calling him one of the greatest distance runners
of all time.
At our annual Senior Awards Evening, we award the Farah Cup to one
student who has demonstrated hard work on their way to success. Mo
acts as an inspiration and a motivation to our students every single
day, and we are delighted that he has experienced such success on a
global scale. Congratulations to him for such a phenomenal and richlydeserved achievement!

CONOR DAVIS RUGBY SESSION

On Tuesday 24 November, we welcomed Conor Davis to the
school as part of the Teach First visiting teacher scheme.
Conor Davis now works for Citi Bank, but he was formerly a
rugby player, representing Ulster as well as his country at
junior level. Unfortunately, his career was cut short due to
injury, and he moved into banking.
Over the course of the morning, Conor delivered an intense
rugby coaching session to some of the schools senior rugby
players. It was great for the students to be put through their
paces by a former professional! Afterwards, Conor hosted a
question-and-answer session with the boys, speaking to them
about seizing the opportunities they are given, how to progress
into a banking career, and how sport has helped him in his
professional life. It was a great morning, and we sincerely
thank Conor for giving up his time!

LEVEL 2 STREET
GAMES AWARD
During the Spring Term, our Year 12 Level 3 BTEC Sport and
Leisure students have taken their Level 2 Street Games award
as part of their course content. The aim of the award was to
allow the students to gain skills whereby they are able to
engage young people in accessing physical activity,
particularly in rural areas where they do not have as much
access to sport. We were delighted that the boys involved
absolutely threw themselves into the task and found it
extremely rewarding.

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STUDENTS
REPRESENT BOROUGH
AT LONDON YOUTH
GAMES
We were thrilled to hear that five of our junior students
represented the borough of Hounslow for cricket at the London
Youth Games. The matches took place at Lords, the home of
English cricket, and the boys absolutely did the school proud
as they and the rest of the borough team ended up as silver
medallists!
The boys involved have been training hard all year, with Key
Stage 3 cricket going from strength to strength this year (see
Sports Teams at the start of the Sports section). Up to thirty
students have been taking part in early morning training
sessions with Mr Potter each and every week, and the results
have paid dividends. Well done to the boys who represented
Hounslow: Curran Bains (7A), Zohaib Chaudhri (8F), Zayn
Hussain (8D), Ahmed Kalair (8E) and Sukhteshwer Khaira (8F).

STUDENTS VISIT
LORDS FOR
MIDDLESEX
ENGAGEMENT DAY
On Tuesday 28 June Mr Potter was back at Lords, but this
time he had a group of nearly fifty students with him. The
occasion? The Middlesex Engagement Day, a special event
which invited 5000 young people into the home of English
cricket to watch a first-class County Championship cricket
match between Lancashire and Middlesex. There was some
well-intentioned banter between the students and Lancashireborn Mr Potter throughout the day!

RFU JUNIOR
REFEREES AWARD
On Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 February, our Year 13 sports
students took part in an RFU Junior Referees Award,
spending two days learning how to be a rugby referee and
picking up a qualification at the end of it. The boys worked
really hard over the course of the programme, with the external
trainer very impressed with their effort.

During the day, students were also given the privileged

opportunity to actually bowl and bat at Lords! They took part in
a series of cricketing activities, including B20 cricket and sprint
cricket, and also were given a personal tour of the ground. The
boys behaviour on the day was exemplary. Afterwards, Mr
Potter said, the boys have been outstanding in every respect
today [and their] behaviour, attitude and actions have been
impeccable. A special thank you as well to Sixth Form
students Kamran Anwar (12RON), Prince Radhakrishnan
(12MAS) and Jamie Tilt (12MAS) who assisted during the trip
and have been a huge help to the department all year.

Playing cricket at Lord's!

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JAMES MCLAUGHLIN
WINS JACK PETCHEY
AWARD
We were delighted to receive notice in December that Sixth
Form student James McLaughlin (13MAS) had won a Jack
Petchey Award. This is a prestigious award that is presented
to young people who have made a significant and prolonged
contribution to the local community. In James case, this is due
to the outstanding work during Premier League Kicks sessions
organized by the Brentford Football Club Community Sports
Trust.
Premier League Kicks is a scheme that began in 2006 and
aims to reduce crime rates in London by engaging students in
sport. James began as a participant in the sessions, but
started coaching on a volunteering basis in January 2015. He
impressed those in charge enough to become a paid Trust
coach after completing his FA Level One award in July 2015!
Since then, he has shown an outstanding level of commitment,
continuing to volunteer with the scheme on top of his paid
hours. James commented that coaching has helped me
recognize that I like sharing my knowledge of sport with young
people.
After receiving his award, James received a write-up in one of
the Brentford FC official matchday programmes, in which he
credited his Level 3 studies at Isleworth & Syon as the
inspiration for his coaching. James won a 200 grant from the
Jack Petchey Foundation along with his award, and used that
to take his Kicks group to Top Golf in Surrey. A huge well done
to James for his achievement!

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Students designed, prepared and delivered a whole range of activities.

HIGHER SPORTS
LEADER AWARD
All students in the Sixth Form are given the opportunity to take
the Higher Sports Leader course, a national-recognised Level
3 qualification run by Sports Leaders UK. 14 of our current
Sixth Form cohort organised a Sport Relief FUNdamental
festival at Marjory Kinnon School on Wednesday 16 March, as
part of their award. All 96 students at Marjory Kinnon took part,
and students and staff alike were overwhelmed with the
professionalism displayed by the students as they planned,
delivered and evaluated a series of sporting activities. It is a
pleasure to see these Sixth Form students taking a leadership
role and making a real tangible difference in the local
community. Well done to the students involved!

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Above: Josiah Abraham is surrounded by Staff defenders.

Right: The winning team!

YEAR 13 LEAVERS 5-1 STAFF XI

One of the more eagerly-anticipated events of the sporting
calendar is our Year 13 Leavers football match against the
Staff XI, which took place on Wednesday 20 April. With some
new blood amongst the staff ranks this year, they were a
somewhat unknown quantity, and it seemed like the match
would be as tight an affair as always. However, on this
occasion, the pre-match predictions were widely off the mark,
as the Year 13s romped to an easy victory.
They took the lead after just seven minutes with a goal that
displayed the route 1 tactic at its best, as Josiah Abraham
(13JST) latched on to a goal kick from Nick Bennett (13MAS)
and comfortably finished past Mr Hoy in the staff goal. Ten
minutes later, though, and the Staff were level with an
excellent finish from mathematics teacher Mr Dilks. At this

point, the game was fairly tight, with both defences stifling
each other. However, the game was blown wide up just before
time with an outstanding free-kick from Josiah Abraham,
scoring his second of the game with a free kick right out of the
top-drawer, leaving the keeper no chance.
At the beginning of the second half, the staff made a series of
substitutions and looked to be getting back into the game.
However, two goals in quick succession pretty much finished
them off, as Harry Walker (13MAS) and Jahi Laing (13JST)
made it 4-1. From that point on, the game was pretty much
over. Harry Walker did put more gloss on the scoreline with a
fine finish to make it 5-1, which was how it ended. The Year 13
Leavers have now won two years in a row. Congratulations to
them, and well done to everyone involved!

P.E. DEPARTMENT WINS

CHANCE TO SHINE
AWARD!
This year has seen a major drive for cricket led by Deputy Curriculum
Leader Mr Potter. All of this hard work has clearly paid off as the
school was nominated for Schools Project of the Year at the
Middlesex Chance to Shine cricket awards. It was a real honour to
be nominated for the work and effort in delivery of our provision over
the course of the year.
Two other schools were nominated for the award; the awards day
took place at Lords Cricket Ground on Sunday 26 June, with Messrs
Potter, Devlin and Mullins in attendance. We were all absolutely
delighted when we won the award! The school was honoured for our
outstanding extra-curricular provision, including the new Bats for
Boys initiative, which makes cricket bats more readily-accessible to
Year 7, allowing them to develop their skills from an early age. Mr
Potter has also instituted lunch clubs for cricket-related activities,
7.00am morning training sessions (not for the faint-hearted, but wellattended!), and teams at every age group across borough and county
competition (including B teams at Key Stage 3).
Throughout this Review, you can see the breadth of cricketing
success this year, a testimony to the hard work from the staff and the
commitment from the students. We hope for much more next year!

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SPORTS DAY 2016

One of our favourite events in the school
calendar is our annual Sports Day, which was
once again held across the road at the Osterley
track, on Friday 1 July. This all-day event is a
fantastic way for students to get into the house
spirit, as Years 7 and 8 in the morning and
Years 9 and 10 in the afternoon attempted to
win valuable points for their house. All of the
athletics track and field events were run during
a jam-packed day that was superbly organised
by Mr Potter and the P.E. department.
The atmosphere during both halves was
absolutely electric, with students roaring their
classmates on! The standard of performance
was very high, with many of the events
extremely close. Students in first, second and
third were given a medal and a place on the
podium as reward for their exertions. Several
school records were resoundingly broken over
the course of the day, including Josiah Wilson
Kepple (8A) absolutely destroying his own triple
jump record with a truly outstanding leap!
It was very close, but in the end the overall
winners (for the second year in succession)
were Turner, who celebrated triumphantly. In
spite of difficult weather conditions and pretty
much constant light rain, the boys did
themselves proud over the course of the day.

FORM SCORES
7A
7C
7E
7B
7F

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101
101
99
96
85

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8C
8F
8E
8D
8A
8B

114
108
97
91
83
81

9F
9B
9A
9E
9C
9D

112
106
99
97
93
76

10B
10F
10E
10A
10C
10D

129
124
81
77
68
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ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, GO!

Josiah Wilson Kepple (8A) broke the school record for triple jump.

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DUKE OF EDINBURGHS AWARD

worked in the local community as part of
the programme, volunteering at the
Barnardos charity shop. We hope that
the boys continue their Duke of
Edinburghs Award journey in 2016-17.

We have once again organised the Duke

of Edinburghs Award scheme within the
P.E. department. We offer three levels:
Bronze (Year 9), Silver (Year 10 and 11)
and Gold (Years 12 and 13). We are
proud to be one of only a few local
schools to still offer the Gold award.
The Duke of Edinburghs Award is split
into several sections:
1. Volunteering (six months for Bronze
and Silver, twelve months for Gold);
2. Learning and demonstrating a new
skill
3. Physical recreation (such as a sports
or gym activity)
4. A weeks residential experience
away from home (Gold only)
5. Expedition.
Students complete the expedition in
school and the rest of the sections
independently. This year, a record
number of students took part in the three
awards.
Mr West led a total of 57 students in the
Bronze award. Throughout the year, the
boys take part in a variety of different
training, including basic camp craft and
map reading. This was designed to
prepare the boys for their assessed
expedition, which took them to Shere for
two days and one night during Wider
Learning Week. All but one group were
successful with their expedition, and the
boys performed well. We were pleased
as well that several of their groups

20 students took part in the Silver award,

led by Mr Adams. As with the Bronze,
the boys had one practice expedition and
one assessed, and they display
exceptional campcraft in often
challenging conditions. During the
practice in Chiltern, there was torrential
rain and howling winds, but the boys
displayed resilience and determination,
which they then took into their assessed.
Many of the students had progressed
directly from the Bronze award, and we
are very proud of their progress. A
special thanks as well to volunteer Steve
Turner, who assisted us with the Bronze
and Silver practices, and was invaluable.
As always, the Gold cohort was smaller,
with six students from the Sixth Form
taking part and led by Mr Gaskell. They
undertook one expedition during 201516 (to the Lake District) with the second
and final expedition to the Brecon
Beacons scheduled for September
2016. Each of these expeditions lasts for
four days and three nights, and is a
huge challenge for these students.
Several of the boys had completed both
of the other levels, and so this
represented the
culmination of
their journey.
A particular
challenge was the
Striding Edge at
Helvellyn, but the
boys applied
themselves
excellently and
were a credit to
the school.

The gold competitors.

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The terrifying 'Striding Edge.'

A number of Isleworth & Syon students

who took part in the 2014-15 scheme
visited the Civic Centre for their
Presentation Evening on Tuesday 10
May, picking up their Bronze and Silver
awards. We were delighted to also see
Joe Formby (Year 13) pick up his Gold
award at the event, a testament to his
hard work. Almost a week later, on
Monday 16 May, Mr Ferguson was
invited to a very special Duke of
Edinburghs Award ceremony at
Buckingham Palace, which
commemorated the 60th anniversary of
the scheme.
Grey skies during the Silver expedition!

A collection of our Bronze competitors.

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DEFEAT FOR
THE I&S
CRICKET XI
AGAINST
THE MCC
We were delighted to once again
welcome the Marylebone Cricket Club
(MCC) for their annual match against
our First XI. This years game took place
at the Old Isleworthians Sports Ground,
Wood Lane, on Wednesday 15 June.
MCC won the toss and elected to bat on
a hot and steamy wicket. Jamie Tilt
(12MAS) and Talha Azam Malik (11E)
opened the bowling for Isleworth & Syon
and were dangerous from the very first
over. After a strong bowling and fielding
performance, we bowled the MCC out
for 224-7, leaving them with a 225 target
to win the match. Amongst the wickets
were the aforementioned Jamie and
Talha, as well as Prince Radhakrishnan
(12MAS) and Iffy Ahmed (11F).
It was a particularly challenging match
for us as the first XI was extremely
depleted due to the ongoing summer
examinations. Particularly mention must
go to Talha and Iffy, both of whom came

RACHEL
RODIPE
NOMINATED
FOR BTEC
SPORT
STUDENT OF
THE YEAR
We were delighted to receive notice in
the Summer Term that Year 13 student
Rachel Rodipe had been shortlisted for
the BTEC Sport Student of the Year in
the National BTEC Awards. Rachel was
put forward by the school, and was one
of eight finalists out of thousands of
students entered. The judging panel
deemed that Rachel should be highly
commended as one of the outstanding

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back to the match once their

examination had been completed!
We made a really good batting start in
spite of sharp and consistent bowling
from the MCC openers. Although the
boys gave everything they had, MCC
were just too good on the day, bowling
us out well short of the target. However,
this was a solid performance from the
boys in difficult circumstances, and
Head of Cricket Mr Potter was rightly
proud of the group.

Cricket Board (MCB) have just donated

a cricket pitch cover to the school, which
should hugely improve conditions going
forward.

A special thanks to Michael and the

CucinA staff for the fantastic spread that
greeted the players after the match, to
the Old Isleworthians for hosting, and to
the old boys and staff who supported. It
was another great day, and next years
should be even better the Middlesex
BTEC Sport students in the country a
phenomenal achievement as only five
students in the UK received this honour.
The award is richly deserved for Rachel,
who has been an outstanding influence
within the BTEC cohort this year. She
earned a triple Distinction* in her BTEC
Extended Diploma in Sport, which is
equivalent to three A-Level A*s. Her
work ethic and commitment to the
course within the classroom has been
nothing less than exemplary, along with
fantastic attitude, behaviour and
commitment. Her work is not merely
confined to school, however she does
lots of work in her local community as a
founding member of the Creative Caf
in the Beavers Estate. This Saturday
morning club targets small children (511) and promotes healthy lifestyles
through sport. She has regularly
assisted in primary schools and other
initiatives. Mr Adams, Curriculum
Leader for P.E., said, Rachel is not only
an outstanding student she is polite,

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affable, reliable, and is willing to give

back to her school and community.
Rachel now goes on to study at St.
Marys University, Twickenham, and we
wish her well.

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Developments & The Future

FACILITIES

We were delighted to see the eventual installation of a pelican crossing on the

Great West Road at the junction with Ridgeway Road. This new crossing will
make the road much safer for our students and for members of the community,
and comes after many years of lobbying from the Headteacher and members
of the Isleworth Association.
There are always developments taking place at school and one of the
improvements this year has been the refurbishment of the Performing Arts
corridor. The before and after photographs tell their own story!

Before...

... and after!

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
The 7 million project to build a new teaching block is underway. This will see
20 new teaching rooms being built, essentially to house core subjects. Our
architects from Useful Studio, Catherine Ramsden and former student John
Edwards, have produced a wonderful scheme that will greatly enhance the
school estate and produce teaching rooms fit for many years to come.
Part of the scheme will see some internal re-modelling of existing rooms,
including the installation of four new science laboratories. The intention is to
have all building works completed by early next Autumn Term.
We are in discussion with the Local Authority and South West Trains to give up
a small stretch of land on our Busch Corner playing fields to allow for better
access, including disability access, to the Syon Lane station. As part of the
work, trees will be re-planted along the railway line and new fencing installed
along Spur Road.

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NEW WEBSITE
LAUNCHED
On 1 September 2016, the school launched
our brand new website at
www.isleworthsyon.org. The new website has
been in the works for over nine months, and
has been redesigned and redeveloped from
the ground up in order to focus on delivering
visitors the best possible user experience.
Weve made a number of significant
improvements behind-the-scenes which
ensure that the new website is smoother,
slicker and faster, making it easier than ever
for you to access the content you need.
Furthermore, the website has a responsive
design, meaning that it will adapt to whatever
screen size it is being viewed on. The new site
looks absolutely fantastic on mobile phones,
tablets and laptops. The design elements of
the site have been retouched to make the
experience a lot more immersive, with fullwidth images or slideshow galleries on each
page to create a vivid visual experience.
The organisational structure has also been
improved, with everything slotted into seven
distinct sections: Our School, Admissions,
Sixth Form, Curriculum & Learning,
Pastoral Care, Parents and Students. No
matter what you are interested in, it will be
easy to find it. Navigating the site is easier
than ever, with improved search capabilities
and a sidebar on each page telling you what
else is contained within that section.
Being outstanding in every respect is at the
cornerstone of everything we do at Isleworth &
Syon, and this extends to our communications.
With our Twitter
(www.twitter.com/IsleworthSyon) and
Facebook (www.facebook.com/IsleworthSyon)
social media accounts going from strength to
strength, we continue to keep parents/carers
up-to-date with everything that goes on in the
school on a day-to-day basis.

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All copyrighted logos and images included in this publication are acknowledged as belonging to their respective owners.

The work to install floodlights and fencing around our 3G astroturf pitch was
eventually completed during 2015-16, after a great deal of work by many
people to persuade local planners of the benefits of the scheme. We now have
a fantastic facility which
can be used in all
weathers by the
students and which will
be a valuable
community resource. In
addition, we have
planted some mixed
shrubs along the
Church Road aspect of
the field which will, in
time, form a new hedge
fitting for the
conservation area.

A MessAge FroM
the heAdteAcher
Welcome to our Annual Review of 2015-16 and a chance to look back
at some of the highlights of the last school year.
The school has a long and proud tradition for the high quality education
of local boys, and a more recent and growing reputation for similarly
looking after the best interests of an increasing number of Sixth Form
girls.
With an ever-growing local population and new schools on the horizon,
we will continue to focus on our own priorities of ensuring a high quality
academic education, offering an exemplary range of additional
opportunities, and retaining some of our long and fine traditions. We
have always found this to be the best way to ensure the continued
success of both our students and the school.
An analysis of the summers examination results confirms that we
remain the most consistently top-performing non-selective school for
local boys. It is important to measure our results against boys in mixed
settings both locally and nationally, and it is always pleasing to us that
our boys do perform better when measured against boys in local mixed
schools and against boys nationally.
At A-Level, our student outcomes were excellent. The pass rate was
over 99%, with over 50% of all A-Level grades at A*-B. Across the
whole year, over 80% of grades were at C or above, cementing our
position as being in the top 10% of schools nationally for added-value.
At GCSE, new progress measures show that our boys continue to
comfortably out-perform their peers nationally on every measure. As
importantly, we remain extremely proud of the manner in which our
students develop over their time with us into mature, considerate and
ambitious young men.
At our Senior Awards Evening for 2015-16 we were delighted to
welcome former student and award-winning architect and designer,
John Edwards, back to school. A graduate of the University of
Cambridge and of the Royal College of Art, John is currently working
for Useful Studio and one of his current
projects is our new teaching block. It
was a delight to hear him reflect on him
time at school and on his career to date.
The school does provide an outstanding
education for our students and we look
forward to another excellent school year.

E Ferguson

I am grateful to Michael Kettle, former student and the schools

Communications Officer, for compiling this Annual Review. I would
also like to extend my thanks to Beat Creative for the design and
production of this publication.
Cover artwork by Robbie Whitmore (11C)

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Isleworth & Syon School for Boys

Ridgeway Road, Isleworth
Middlesex TW7 5LJ
T: 020 8568 5791 F: 020 8568 1939
school@isleworthsyon.org
www.isleworthsyon.org

ANNUAL reVIeW
academic year 2015-2016

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